The Black Tattoo
by TriplePivotTurn
Summary: He didn't know when it came, or where from, but he'd been cursed with a mark on his back. A black tattoo. A new antihero emerges under the alias of The Black Raven, and Yuugi's life had never been more complicated. eventual YYxY, YXA
1. Prologue

**Title:** The Black Tattoo  
**Author:** SilverWing147  
**Part:** Prologue  
**Rating:** Yet to be classified  
**Warning:** AU, BL  
**Pairing:** eventual YYxY, YxA, other pairings yet to be realised.  
**Summary:** He didn't know when it came, or where from, but he'd been cursed with a mark on his back. A tattoo of a pyramid with an Egyptian eye, a black tattoo. What some people call a hero, and others a menace, emerges under the name of The Black Raven, and Yuugi's life has never been more complicated.

A/N: So here it is at long last. I'll try to stay frequent with my updates but yeah, depends on the speed of me and my beta reader. Thanks to everyone who reviewed the trailer, I hope I can live up to some part of the expectation.

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* * *

__England. _

_Once upon a time…_

"The witching hour past, and I saw not your shadow at my door." A dark voice murmured from the shadows, his accent laden with the confident, rich tones of a goblin king. His manner mocked all that surrounded him, the man cloaked in black teasing fear from the other standing before him while waited for a reply.

"My apologies for my tardiness in attending this matter." The other replied. He was dressed in a trodden brown cloth, his forehead shimmered with sweat, and eyes dark and small like a rodents as they darted uneasily. And who wouldn't be uneasy? "I-I bring with me what thou did request."

A smilefrom the dark, and then a swirl of cloak as the mysterious figure turned without a word, heading down a dark stairwell to a store below. The rat-like man nervously ushered the two other men behind him to follow. He himself remained as he was, rubbing his hands nervously before him, unsure. He had payed the sum to the Dark Dealer but he could still pull out now, there was still time to back out… The Dealer had assured him that it wouldn't be his loss if he did back out. He had already been paid, there would be no inconvenience… but _yet,_ it had to be done, and he — he had only to gain, onlyto gain yes…

His two accomplices carried in a brown burlap sack between them, moving awkwardly down the stairs. The air was sweetened, the lingering scent of frankincense still permeating the air though the stick itself hadlong since burnt out, but there was a sinister undertone. They fought away chills and the urge to flinch away from the very scent of the store. The suppressed the need to shudder as though disentangling webs of fright from their clothes, the knowledge of what they were here for creating menacing, laughing shadows from trinkets on the walls.

The cloaked man headed into a door to the left of the store, hidden in a small corner, holding it open and gesturing in invitation.

The layer of sweat on the rat's browincreased as he followed, entering the room cautiously. His pupils expanded as he entered the darkness of the room, the only source of light emitting froma large black candle towards the other end of the room. It stood raised before a dark, engraved, stone slab which served as an altar. The walls could be could have been a dark grey stone, though in the current light (or lack of) there was only black. The floor was stone, cold, and void of any sensation, utterly smooth and seamless. He was surprised at the bareness of the room as well. Apart from the altar and candle, the room was completely bare and eerily silent. And although he could smell moreincense burning, he could not locate the source.

"Place him o-on the altar?" He asked nervously, gesturing to the sack carried by the two other men who had entered this deal with him. The Dark Dealer nodded curtly, his boots thudding on the ground as he swept forward to stand behind the sacred platform. The two men shuffled forward with their bundle, laying the dirty burlap sack down on it apprehensively, deliberately careful under the critical eye of the Dealer.

When they completed their task there they quickly moved beside the man with the rodent's eyes. This did not escape the cloaked figure who smiled to himself in amusement before turning to the coarse mesh of hemp. In one swift movement he brought out a nine inch blade, wickedly curved, to cut it open lengthways, and then folding back the edges to reveal the body inside.

As many of the sacrifices who agreed to be taken were, he was asleep. Many of them did not wish to go through the trauma of being awake through the ceremony, screaming and writhing as the first dagger pierced their tensed flesh, and having to have people holding them down only made things messy. And so he often provided his clients a vial to offer to the willing soul, which once drunk would bring them an oblivious numb of deep unconsciousness. They would feel no pain or fear, only calm sedation.

It was _also_ not that uncommon for them to be in a bag so that people did not suspect that any foulness and body keeping went on in his store. It would not do to have people who, for in all senses, looked like corpses to be seen being taken into his store at all twilight hours.

This sacrifice was a beauty though, the dark dealer observed, eyes sweeping over the figure of a young boy. His hair shimmered as though it were white, though it was closer to ash blonde, he had pale complexion which was not uncommon for how often there were blue skies. Dark sooty eyelashes laid atop the softest swoop of a cheekbone. He was very beautiful for a boy. Once cleaned and placed in a suit he would probably seduce many a damsel with his charm, innocence and dazzling blue eyes. Although they were closed he knew, those eyes hidden beneath pale eyelids, they should be blue…

But as it was he was dressed in a dirty peasant's rags, hair a snarled mess, tangled around his head, though once brushed it would have been quite a treasure, it looked soft even now. He was not shoed in finely polished boots like those the governors and dukes would wear, but cloth slippers with thin, worn soles. His nails were dirty cuticles, his hands grubby from dirt instead of pristinely clean as gentleman's were. His fingers tapered gently at the end like that of an artisan, but they were calloused with labour. He was still so warm lying atop the cold hard stone, so young. _Too_ young.

'_Why is it that he should desire to die so?'_ He sighed. It wasn't his place to ask, but perhaps life was too hard for him. Perhaps this young boy hoped to end it in providing gain. Perhaps a better life lay ahead for him this way. There were many perhaps's, he knew he wouldn't ever know the true reason. However summer always pasts, and in sweeps the bitter frost.

Closing his eyes, he began.

The rat-man shuddered, the feeling of spiders crawling beneath his skin making his hair stand on end. He couldn't hear what the Dealer chanted, his voice mute as the darkness kept its secrets to itself. The candle became bluer, hotter. The air thrummed and he felt his companions shake slightly at his side. A choking feeling filled the air, as though pressure were being mounted upon them, brick after brick. A horrible feeling of the air being too thick to breath, gagging them to silence as the soundless chanting continued.

A dull and sickening thud resounded as the first dagger was slammed down and through the breast bone. He breathed in sharply, the chanting still unheard as the second slid into her stomach passing through the boys delicate navel. He watched in silent horror, gagging on the air as pale wrists were slit and blood began to slide down into the cracks of the alter stone. The air smelt of death, the copper stirring with the incense in a sickening bouquet. Dark smoke gathered atop the blue flame, glowing from the inside as it condensed.

He heard his name and flinched, hearing his companions names as well he focused on the Dealer his arms held out to the smoke gathering it in his hands and spreading it above the body.

The pressure in the room increased, and although he desperately wanted to make a sound the ability was lost on him. He was unable to speak just as he was unable to hear the Dealer in his chantings, though… the dealer… he must be chanting. The dark thrum increased as a feeling pierced his heart and he fell to a knee. Sweat broke out all over his body. The _pressure_!

His vision became hazy as he tried to continue to watch. Light glowed at the edges of the still body, a soul leaving, or was it the spark of life? He watched it be drawn into the black, sucked up like a sponge.

"I call on the dark."

Wind roared, colours blurred – what little colour there was. There was a scream of pain to his left, his companions falling. He felt a tingle race up his legs, painful pinpricks like rats clawing their way up him and his head bowed down in pain, a scream rising in his throat. But it never made it. He felt a tentacle of air reach into his mouth; thick, cold air that hummed and ate sound. It, it felt alive. He couldn't close his mouth to stop it as it pushed inside. He tried to fight with tongue and teeth but both were useless and unmoving. He gagged slightly, but that was the only noise to escape him. He froze as it neared the very top of his throat. No…

Light suddenly erupted in the room and he glanced up seeing the Dark Dealer staring at him, eyes wide with horror and anger. The Dealer didn't make a sound as a shaft of light pierced him, merely grunting as he was lifted from the floor with it, suspending him within the air by that one, cruel, shaft of brightness. Was this normal… no. This wasn't normal. The look in his eyes told him that. Something had gone wrong. Were things continuing to go wrong even now? What was…what was…

An ancient and terrible voice tore through the air, so loud and furious it made his ears bleed. He couldn't understand what it said, though it translated perfectly in his mind. They had all done something terribly wrong. The Dealer had sacrificed an unwilling soul. A soul pure, vibrant and completely untouched. The Dealer's name had been given to the shadows, they would all be punished.

The Dealer screamed as shafts of black and white and grey tore through him and pulled free his soul from his body, the rat eyed man staring in unabashed horror. The pressure increased and the cold tentacle of air in his mouth expanded. They had thought that anyone would do, they hadn't been able to find someone, so they'd just taken her. The Dealer had said they had to be willing but they thought it was just his own desire not an actual rule.

The tentacle of air pushed down, expanding more, he couldn't breathe; and it felt like a giant was standing on his back. Between the two his body strained briefly before it couldn't take anymore, his heart failing, lungs collapsing. The last thing burnt into his mind was sad emerald eyes and the agonising cry before the Dark Dealer's body crumbled to the floor.

_The Black Tattoo_

_Domino, Japan_

_Not so long ago…_

Life in general had been normal for Yuugi. He had enjoyed a normal childhood, although throughout his educated years he had received more than the average attention person from bullies, but apart from that it had been normal. He received very average grades, was slightly bellow the average height but made up for those shortcomings with an extra enthusiasm for games and a cheery disposition that unnerved some people to the point where they saw fit to bully him some more.

This unfortunate style of living had decreased when he had graduated from school and moved into the world of the adult. The supposed 'real world', though life previously had seemed fairly real as well. In fact, he'd almost say that life had gotten easier since he'd left school when most adult people had assured him that it would only get harder. He only occasionally became injured, which came from bumping into angry people or drunks on his way home. He always seemed to attract those kinds of people and every time he got back home, his grandfather would ask him what happened, in detail.

He would ask if he was okay, if he felt strange, bandage the grazes and then head back into the lounge room to ponder. His face was worried whenever Yuugi returned with an injury. But so was life. As he got older the worry increased.

Yuugi himself never understood the reason why his worry would increase, he was older, the injuries hardly bothered him, and never got worse. Really things were just fine.

He adjusted the collar of his shirt before the mirror as he passed it in the hallway. He paused, taking in his strangely spiked black hair and blonde frontal bangs. He had matured though his face was still youthful to the point of being overly childish. His cheeks were still soft with a slight roundness to edges that should have become harder with age, his eyes were still large, though appeared slightly older and his skin was smooth as though he had shaved this morning instead of near on five days ago.

He dressed like a punk. Leather and jeans (mercifully untorn) and a set of sneakers that seemed mismatched to the rest of his ensemble though were easy to spend long hours in. He waved a farewell to his Grandfather behind the counter as he exited the shop area of his home, pulling his jacket around him against the chill of late autumn.

He was heading to the local café to meet up with a long time friend of his. Jounouchi Katsuya had recently returned from the gambling circuit with his girlfriend Mai. They had been touring small islands off the main continent for five months, and had come into port late last night. Jounouchi had of course called Yuugi within 3 minutes of getting into his hotel room to tell him they should meet for coffee, a burger, 'or something.' His grandfather had given him the time off work to meet up with his friend on the agreement that when he got back he was to lock himself in a storage cupboard and not return until it was clean.

He grinned in anticipation. It had felt like forever since he had seen Jounouchi, and a fair bit had happened in between. He was slightly nervous as he headed to their usual booth and found it empty, though it wasn't unusual for him to be late.

"Hi Yuugi-kun." A voice chirped from beside him as he settled into the cushions of the booth.

"Oh." Yuugi blinked, turning to face the owner of the greeting. "Hi Bakura-san." Said person smiled and shook his head woefully, white locks rustling faintly.

"How many times must I ask you to call me Ryou, or even Ryou-kun. You confuse me calling me Bakura-san." He said, placing a hand on his hip.

"I'll try." Yuugi grinned in response. "But now that you mention it, how goes your demon half?"

Ryou, who was mild mannered, polite and was sometimes compared to a lamb dated someone who was truly a wolf. Bakura looked similar to Ryou, but sharper, with a vicious edge and more unruly hair. His eyes were a few shades in the darker to be scary direction than Ryou's. He worked at the pawn shop down the street, selling and valuing expertly, and some of the items had questionable origins but no one ever asked twice. Ryou worked in a café. This café.

Ryou's face slipped slightly. "He's, been sick recently. He's at home sleeping."

Yuugi frowned slightly. "But Bakura-san never gets sick. Apart from that one time when we were on camp and he decided that it was better to be sitting outside in the rain all night then put up with our ' mindless jabber'." He said.

Ryou shrugged. "True, but I suppose that you've got to get sick at some point. Though I'm glad he's not sick very often, not just for the usual 'I don't like it when my partner is hurting' but just because he's whinier and more demanding that usual." He joked.

Yuugi had the grace to smile and not notice the worry that still lined the corners of Ryou's eyes, he was sure that Bakura would be fine. "Demons don't stay down for long."

Ryou smiled. "True, and they don't get any worse than my demon."

"Hey, did you ever found out where he sto- _acquired_, that ring from?" Yuugi asked, leaning forward inquisitively as Ryou did as well, as though they were talking about some scandalous secret.

"Well now that you mention it, I was talking to Florey the other day, you know that strange British guy who likes to talk to me because I speak English? well he said that—"

"Hey Yuug'! I'm sorry I'm late! Got held up at the, oh, hey Ryou!" Jounouchi said gallivanting into the café and sliding onto the bench opposite Yuugi's. He looked just as Yuugi remembered him, bright eyes, blond hair and an over excited, careless smile. The same goofy grin as always, teeth sparking with confidence.

"Jounouchi-kun!" Ryou exclaimed, leaning back and cutting off everything he had previously been saying. "I didn't know you were back in town! When did you get in?"

"Last night." He said flopping back into the cushions, hands splaying on either side of him. "Flew in from Okinawa." He explained. "Plane got in to the airport about half an hour late, as they do, so we ended up arriving about nine thirty."

"And how's Mai?"

Jounouchi's smile somehow got brighter. "Fantastic. Me an' her have been doing really well ya know? No bumps or ditches in the road."

Yuugi smiled. "That's great Jounouchi." He was really happy for his friend. He and Mai were so well suited. Both were loud and feared no shame, bold, and bright; and while Mai could take care of herself, she isn't as able she would claim or lead anyone to believe, and Jounouchi was always the best big brother. He'd brought her under the wing without her even realising it.

"Speakin' of things going great. I know you have some big news for me buddy." Jounouchi's grin changed mischievous. "How's you and Anzu?"

"Really great. We've been thinking of moving in together." Yuugi said with a grin.

"Woowoo Yuug'! You're gonna be gettin' married next." He teased, poking out his tongue, and Ryou chuckled from his place at the end of the table.

"No way! I'm not even sure if I'm ready for the moving in thing. I mean, things have been going really great, but sometimes I've wondered you know, that she's going to loose interest or something. It's a pretty big step, to go from just seeing someone to seeing them every night pretty much. What if I just annoy her too much or something I mean, I've never really lived with a girl in the house, it's just been me and Grandpa for the most part, you know how often mum's home." Yuugi rambled.

Ryou chuckled, shaking his head slightly. "Well I'd better get back to work." He took his tray back up. "I'll bring you guys your usual." He said over his shoulder heading to the counter, scribbling on his pad their orders.

"Thanks Ryou!" They chorused.

"So." Jounouchi said turning back to his friend. "You're not so sure about moving in with Anzu then? Given that in one breath you were saying it was great, and then the next you were ranting about how it could go wrong."

Yuugi sighed, averting his eyes slightly. "I'm not sure. I, I really like Anzu, I love her. I have since… since forever. When she agreed to go out with me, it was like Christmas. But… she always seemed a little reluctant, like I wasn't her first choice, and that never bothered me but lately it's been getting more and more like that, and so maybe this moving in together is an effort to reassure me or something." He ran a hand through his hair. "I'm sure everything's fine and I'm just being paranoid, but things have been a little shaky with us, so the 'let's move in together' proposal was a bit wow."

"Sounds like you need to come out clubbin' with me tonight Yuug'." Jounouchi stated simply. Yuugi stared at him.

"That's not an answer." He said flatly.

"Sure it is." He grinned. "Listen Yuug' I'm sure Anzu's just havin' some girly moment that we'll never understand because of our amazing masculinity. Give her some time, I'm sure everything'll turn out all right."

Yuugi sighed. "I hope so."

"Yeah, no problems Yuug', now what do you say about tonight?" He watched his friend hesitate. He knew that Yuugi wasn't one for the night life scene. "Come on, for me?" He added.

Yuugi caved. "Sure Jounouchi."

"Great! I'll meet you at the Black Spider, ten 'o' clock."

Yuugi nodded. "Mm, okay. So how was the trip this time?" He asked settling in to listen to Jounouchi begin an exuberant tale of his 'adventures' just as he always did when he returned home. And Yuugi smiled, nodded, laughed appropriately and enjoyed his company, just as he always did.

---------------

The Black Spider, infamous on the night club circuit for being the place that everyone started at, and everyone ended up at by the end of the night. Jounouchi had been known to spend an entire night there instead of club jumping, enjoying the pub atmosphere and then enjoying the nightclub atmosphere that slowly settled in as the night grew later. The air became hot with the panting and sweating of the dancers on the floor as they dipped and ground, twisting their bodies.

The lights were dim and fast, coloured blue, white, red, yellow. There were lasers and a smoke machine that activated as late night grew later night. It was three AM and his mind was foggy, and at some point while he was dancing, his shirt had gone missing – a not so common occurrence – and every so often he'd feel the brush of a hand on his body. Yuugi knew there was a reason he didn't go out much. The drinking had hit him hard and fast early in the night, light drinking every so often had kept him beyond the realm of tipsy for the remainder of the evening. The DJ had taken to playing tracks with the bass turned up to nearing maximum level. His body thudded with it; he could feel the air vibrating as he inhaled. It was strange.

It was a seduction game on the floor, and the Black Spider by this time of the night didn't show much discrepancy in cliental. He felt his body rock and move with the music, mind relaxing. But he needed to get off the floor, he didn't like being without a shirt. He felt a chest against his, a very flat chest. He veered away from it, but it followed pressing to his back, hips grinding suggestively into his backside. He flinched and slid away from the offending man, and kept on sliding until he was out and at the side lines.

He shuddered.

He wasn't homophobic, but having his backside ground into never particularly made him happy, added with that he wasn't wearing a shirt and it was worse. Luckily his jacket was being held in the coat room, so at least he wouldn't be walking home with his top half bare.

"Hey Yuug'!" Jounouchi called, wiping sweat from his brow and heading over to where he could see the mop of his hair, his eyes widening when he saw his state of dress. "You didn't like your shirt pal?"

"Someone did." Yuugi replied. "I think I'm gonna go for the night now Jounouchi." He continued, words slightly slurring with the effects of his drinking.

"Kay man, I'll walk you back." He offered.

Yuugi simply nodded his assent. He knew better than to refuse an offer like that. It wouldn't be a good idea to push his luck by walking around the streets this late at night. He'd never had much luck. He headed back to the front desk to collect his jacket, the lady behind the counter raising eyebrow to his state of dress before heading off to fetch his coat.

Now that he'd stopped moving, stopped drinking, and contemplated his bed, he was tireder than he'd first thought. He thought that yes he was tired, but not really that tired, but stopping caught all the wariness back up to him. Stopping was always the worst part of anything that you started and enjoyed to an extent.

Jounouchi suddenly appeared from seemingly out of nowhere, already wearing his jacket and motioning for the door. He staggered forward but regained his feet properly at the first taste of night air. It rushed against him, waking him, sobering him, alerting him to how cold it was with only his jacket and no shirt.

"So did ya have fun?" Jounouchi asked casually.

Yuugi nodded and smiled in his direction. "Yeah, minus that I liked the shirt I was wearing."

Jounouchi laughed, the sound encouraging Yuugi to smile more, he always liked it when Jounouchi laughed. It was so carefree, and embodied a lot of his personality… well at least the lighter side of his personality. "How about you?"

"Yeah, it was great. There was this chick right, and man I reckon even you, oh king of fidelity, would've wanted her in your bed." He declared. "I mean, I think even Mai wouldn't have minded if I had brought her back, she'd understand."

Yuugi chuckled. Knowing Mai, she was more likely to hit him with something that was hard and in easy reach before she'd understand why he'd brought back another woman. He rubbed his cold arms with equally cold hands, hoping the friction would generate enough warmth that his skin would stop prickling. It didn't.

"Man it's cold." Jounouchi commented. "How you farin' there shirtless wonder?"

Yuugi shot him a dirty look as response, causing Jounouchi to laugh, but he stopped when another laugh joined in with his. Harsh like gravel.

"What the?" Jounouchi spun on his heel just in time to catch a hard blow to his face, sending him sprawling on to the concrete. His head smacked into the pavement with hard thud and for a moment it looked like he'd get up, but he just collapsed, lateness, alcohol and injury getting the better of him.

The alcohol and his own feet impeded him as he turned to avoid the man who had knocked Jounouchi down, conflict over staying and helping his friend and fleeing. There was nothing he could do to defend Jounouchi, but what sort of friend would he be for leaving Jounouchi to the mercy of this guy.

The guy in question was tall and broad shouldered. He had a square set jaw and medium length black hair that fell around his face dangerously. He was clad in a dark jacket and black jeans, a ring on one finger and a dark smile. This guy was trouble. Built for beating, his eyes steely and sparking with bloodlust and desire.

"You left so quickly pretty." He said, stepping forward as Yuugi instinctively stepped back. "I only touched a little of you and you left, that's not a nice thing for a pretty to do."

Yuugi paled, slow to react as a hand grabbed him by the front of his jacket (which seemed painfully inadequate clothing to those undressing eyes) and was unceremoniously dragged into a dark alleyway. It was dank, the stones cold and biting as he was thrown down on them. His vision greyed.

Beating he had had, but the fear and dread that swelled in him as a large heavy body covered his own as he tried to scramble away, was indescribable. A hand squirmed between their pressed bodies and brought the zip of his jacket down, baring his chest. He screamed, feeling helpless as he squirmed more to try and free himself, but this man was huge and heavy.

"Mmm pretty, keep moving like that."

Yuugi froze and the other man chuckled. "Aw, does pretty not want to play." The sound of that gravely voice teasing him made him sick as he felt something press against his thigh. He couldn't even bring himself to scream through the terror.

'_Oh gods, Jou-Jounouchi, wake up, wake up and get this guy off me, please, he's he's going to...'_ He clenched his eyes closed, and tried to being all he strength he had to his arms and legs to try and push him off, but it was in vain, something that was shoved in his face as the man laughed at the pitiful attempt to dislodge him.

When he felt a hand on the top button of his pants his effort returned with renewed vigour. Yelling, roaring, and he tried to get the behemoth off, he had to get him off. Frustrated tears welled in his eyes as he could do nothing and a fresh wave of nausea and fear struck his heart.

'_Help… someone help. HELP ME!'_

His vision greyed, a smile coming to his lips that wasn't his own. His back exploded in pain, as though something so cold it was hot was branding his back. His skin seemed to crackle and heat even as chill after cold chill shuddered through him. What… what was going on?

He screamed, vision greying more as his back burnt more but it began to spread. It felt as though someone was carving patterns onto his skin with red hot pokers. His back tried to arch from the ground as though it was the source of his pain, but the body above him prohibited the motion.

"What the…"

Everything exploded, and his consciousness fled, a chuckle sounding in his airs that wasn't gravely or carefree, but rich as dark chocolate and as chilling as winter. It crept into his mind like icy rain through cracks in stone. A maliciously gleeful voice crying '_Freedom!'_

"You give in pretty?" The other man leaned back staring at the body below his. Suddenly there were black marks all over the pale skin, sharp points and smooth deadly curves. The eyes were blood red and outlined in black, the hair had changed so that it was entirely black. The boy he'd captured who was scared and squirming was gone, the body now tense, the boy now smirking at him.

"Oh no friend." Deeper voice, dangerous voice. "Not this night, nor any night which follows."

He was flung backwards, into one of the walls. He grunted at the impact, pain flaring along his back as the boy stood up, confident strong. His eyes glowed red and he smiled viciously as he came at him. He never had a chance.

* * *

Grandpa Mutou prided himself over many things. Staying calm in a crisis was one of the top things on the list. It had saved him on many a dig and in many situations where he had dealt with unsavoury characters, and although his hair had greyed his pride hadn't. It had been a shock when he had found that mark on his grandsons back, the black tattoo. He had read ghost stories about strange marks on children, of violence, attacks, confusion and illness, but nothing peculiar had never happened to his grandson.

It was just some strange mark, maybe his parents had it done to him, or it was the remnants of a curse some upset girl in middle school had made to put on Yuugi that had never worked without a killing intention behind it. He had encountered far too many strange things to count magic out of the marking. But it wasn't active, just some strange mark.

That didn't stop him worrying as it didn't fade. Didn't stop him worrying when nothing happened to make it go away or get worse. Perhaps it needed something to trigger it, and that rose fear in him whenever Yuugi returned home with scrapes or bruises. He hadn't escaped them even as he got older. He was still a magnet for bullies. Maybe that was the curse…

He sighed, placing down his unread newspaper and switching out the lights, he'd given up on waiting up for his grandson. It hadn't been intentional, but by the time midnight had clocked around he realised that Yuugi shouldn't be too long away, so he might as well stay awake a little longer so that he could let him in, likely he'd be somewhat intoxicated and Jounouchi would be staying around.

He slowly ambled his way upstairs when there was a sudden loud thudding sound from his front door. He jumped, then sighed shaking his head and heading to the door.

"You kids are gonna give me a heart attack." He said unlocking the door and opening it, though he didn't understand why Yuugi didn't just use his…key…

"Yuugi!"

Jounouchi stood, ragged looking in the door with a small bundle in his arms. Yuugi was unconscious and shirtless held close to the young mans chest. His skin covered in strange black marks and there was blood covering his one visible hand, though he didn't have a scratch on him.

"Jounouchi, what happened?!" He demanded.

Jounouchi looked at a loss for words. "I don't know Grandpa…We was walkin' back, and then there was this guy. He got me a cheap one to the head, and I musta passed out or something, 'cause the next thing I know I wake up on the ground and... Yuug' couldn't… shouldn't have even been able to even _scratch_ him, that guy was massive gramps, I mean I don't even know if I could beat him, and when I woke up well… he looked pretty bad, I took a look at him afterwards, he was so badly beaten you could hardly tell he'd even _had_ a face, and Yuug', he just collapsed, and he's got all these strange marks on him, gramps what's going on?!" Panicked.

Grandpa simply stood, his mind brightly realising why his grandsons hands were bloodied with an impassive detachment. Yuugi looked so small and frail in Jounouchi's arms, with dark wicked curves all over his torso and arms. How could this have happened to his grandson? "I don't know Jounouchi…I – I don't know."

'_Gods Yuugi…'_

….

It would take Yuugi three days before he woke up, the markings fading away completely but for the pyramid on his back, and he didn't remember a thing. This was the start of things. The time when the curse became active, irremovable, and Yuugi's problems truly began. The creature he became when he was threatened became known as the Black Raven. A being with black wings, red eyes and a cursing smile.

Only his grandfather and Jounouchi knew of what transpired that night, and the identity of the Black Raven, calling the creature that the curse produced the Dark Yuugi, Yami no Yuugi. Yuugi could never remember what had happened while Yami no Yuugi took his vengeance upon whatever poor soul crossed Yuugi path, but after a while he began to hear them, hear Yami no Yuugi taunt, hear a scream as a predator became a victim, and more than once wished he was deaf but forced himself to hear so that next time he would try harder to keep the dark at bay.

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	2. Ch1 Welcome The Dark

**Title:** The Black Tattoo  
**Author:** SilverWing147  
**Part:** 1/?  
**Rating:** Yet to be classified  
**Warning:** AU, BL, Un-beta'd  
**Pairing:** eventual YYxY, YxA, other pairings yet to be realised.  
**Summary:** He didn't know when it came, or where from, but he'd been cursed with a mark on his back. A tattoo of a pyramid with an Egyptian eye, a black tattoo. What some people call a hero, and others a menace, emerges under the name of The Black Raven, and Yuugi's life has never been more complicated.

A/N: Thanks for reading, and thanks for reviewing the prologue. I am terribly sorry for the delay, work, and my internet being changed over, as well as myself being too afraid to even open the work document that is this story, because I'll get frustrated and throw my monitor. You know when things just don't go right? You can't get them to happen the way you want to? Yuugi does, I hope you enjoy this chapter, and I'll be seeing you in a week.

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Chapter 1 – Welcome the Dark.

"Yo Gramps!"

"Oh! Hello Jounouchi, I didn't see you there." Said elderly man replied as his last set of customers headed for the door. They had been busy this afternoon, a greatly appreciated rarity.

Jounouchi grinned, digging his hands into the pockets of his jeans, denim blue jacket tightening around his shoulders; after all he'd had it forever. It was worn in some places, and he had grown slightly taller and more muscular, and it had already been a comfortable fit beforehand, but he refused to throw it away.

"Is Yuug' around?" He asked, leaning casually on the counter.

Grandpa's eyes darkened slightly, he always seemed older these days. "He's upstairs sleeping, he had a rough night."

"Yeah, I heard this morning. Has he… been getting any better?" He asked seriously.

"Yes, the marks are faded by the time I see him again, and he recovers a lot faster now." Grandpa commented, heading to the front door and flipping the sign to 'closed' heading back to the counter, Jounouchi watching him.

"That's good to hear. Can I go up an' see him?" He said, as Grandpa returned behind the counter to balance the register. Grandpa smiled.

"Sure, he should be getting up soon." He said, gesturing to the door into the house, settling into his chair to begin the boring semi-automatic job of counting coins.

Jounouchi grinned in response and headed for the back area through the rear door. He toed off his shoes and headed for the stairs at the end of the hallway, only to stop short at the entryway to the kitchen.

"Hey Jounouchi." A tired voice called.

He paused, spinning around to peer into the kitchen, surprised to find Yuugi at the sink filling a glass with water. "Yuug' I didn't know you were awake, gramps said you were sleeping." Yuugi gave him a tired smile.

Yuugi's eyes were slightly bloodshot, and there was a slight darkening under them that told him he was still pretty tired. He downed a pill with a glass of water, rinsed the cup, and turned to him. He was still fully clothed from the night before, and his knuckles were dark with bruising.

"I was for a while. Nightmares." He said by way of explanation, shrugging as only Yuugi could and turning to head back upstairs. "Thanks for coming round to see me Jounouchi, did you wanna come up?"

"Sure." He said, following the smaller up the stairs to his room.

Yuugi's room was a little bit strange, for while it was fairly clean other areas were so starkly unorganised it was hard to believe that only one person inhabited it. The floor was clear of clutter but his desk was littered with scattered papers. The cupboards were in complete disarray, but the bed made.

"So how you been doing Yuug'?" Jounouchi asked, lowering himself onto Yuugi's desk chair as Yuugi himself sat slightly hunched on the edge of his bed, smiling and forcedly energetic as usual.

"Good good. Uh, me and Anzu have got better, it was like you said, some strange girl thing or something, but yeah… uh we're not moving in together for… obvious reasons, but I just told her I wasn't really ready for something like that and she was fine with it, so yeah, we're going well and the shop's business has been good. You get in yesterday?" Yuugi said avoiding answering what other part of his life needed care, also known as himself. It was the same thing that Yuugi always did, he didn't want his friends to worry, but couldn't he see this worried them more?

Jounouchi sighed. At one time while they had been in high school, he'd been getting beaten by one particular bully all the time. But he hadn't just beaten Yuugi, but threatened him into doing _his_ homework for him, as well as doing the homework for the extra studies he took up knowing Yuugi would do his homework for that too.

Yuugi kept smiling and telling everyone he was okay, just some trouble sleeping, something about a cat, and kept running himself further and further into the ground. His eyes became sunken from lack of sleep and over work, and when he got sick his body was too weak to fight against it. So weak in fact that even a simple cold had him bed ridden for a week, that's when they found out about the bully.

If Yuugi hadn't caught that cold, who knows how long he would've kept pushing himself on. The tattoo was no different. A bully with extra work that was tiring and pulling at him, and he just smiled telling everyone that he was fine, a little tired, probably shouldn't stay up so late trying to finish that game he started.

"Nah, got in this morning. Took an overnight train rather than a flight in the morning." He explained.

"I uh…" Jouncouhic wasn't sure how to broach the subject, especially with what happened last night but, he needed to be there to make sure his buddy was okay… though he could hardly expect him to be." I…I heard about last night. Read it in the paper this mornin', when I got off the train."

_The Black Raven strikes again!_ It had read that someone saw him attacking a gang who took residence on the docks, the attack apparently at random. He set fire to their lair, a group called the Red Riders, and cost the city quite a deal in damages to surrounding warehouses. The area had been forced closed for repairs, putting one of the busy docks out of commission.

Yuugi flinched. Lately he only seemed to attract the worst kind of people. He used to attract them and some of the slightly less violent ones, but recently only the worst. He had warned them, warned the two guys who had ganged up on him on his way home last night after having to go on a late night grocery run. It wasn't even very late, just slightly past dusk. But they had pursued, chased him, cornered him, and then… the black tattoo had activated, and under its influence he had tracked them all the way back to their nest and destroyed them all.

Well, most of them anyway. He chilled remembering the sound of his others victorious chuckle as the building caught alight and burned, how his hearing had dimmed, as though he were too weak to hear. Then again, the creature drew his power from him so it wasn't a surprise.

He shuddered violently. It was like a leech, sucking on his strength and then using his blood to sustain itself. Just so it could burn people alive.

His tattoo warmed slightly to the temperature of another body, as though that were the single contact point for another's warm skin on his. A whisper he couldn't quite make out but didn't want to hear, flittered through his consciousness.

"Oh." He said simply, looking down at his hands, his charade was up.

"Yeah… did you wanna talk about it, or something?" He asked.

Yuugi shook his head.

"Are you sure? I mean, I haven't seen you in ages, but you look thinner Yuugi, and you don't look like you've rested properly in ages. You sure you don't want to talk about it?" Jounouchi pushed.

Once more Yuugi shook his head. "What's there to talk about? I'm cursed. We can't… fix me, but it's been getting better you know? I can hold it off for longer, I mean the transforming starts, but I'm actually awake for most of it before I… change."

He fixed a stare on his friend. '_Getting better? Yuugi…Yami no Yuugi's actions are getting worse, you aren't okay with this, stop pretending._' But he knew that saying that to Yuugi wouldn't do anything but distress his friend further, maybe it was better to let Yuugi believe that he believed what lies he'd been told, or at least accepted that he didn't want to tell the truth. No, really he just had to offer a solution, however temporary it was.

"Maybe, don't go out for a while. Just stay home for a week, if you need something gimme a call and I'll do it so you don't get the chance to change into Yami no Yuugi." He offered, sincere in his concern.

Yuugi grimaced. This was what was happening to life now? Confined to his own home so he stopped being a danger to himself and everyone else. But maybe… maybe it wouldn't be _so_ bad. Anzu could come around; they could spend an afternoon watching movies together at home, try to take his minds off things so he could sleep. It was a possibility. Not a bad one either.

Jounouchi saw him contemplating it and quickly decided to load his offer with more positive reinforcement. "And that way gramps wouldn't worry so much whenever you leave the house too. So he'd get a bit of a break as well. You could just stay and help in the game shop some, I'm sure he'd appreciate it too, you know… once you're feelin' a bit stronger."

At the mention of his grandfather and how he must be feeling, the guilt set in. Yuugi's grandfather was a strong man, one of the strongest people that Jounouchi had ever known, but he knew that Yuugi worried about his grandfather, and if someone offered him away to make life easier for his grandfather, even if he didn't very much like it. He'd agree.

"Sure. I'll stay in… thanks." Yuugi accepted.

He smiled. "Not a problem Yuug'. So seriously, how you been? I've heard some whispers while I was gone about what's going on around here, and that seemed to be not as bad as last night but still. I know you said earlier that it was getting better, and there wasn't much to talk about, but Yuug' you can't keep this all to ya self. I understand ya don't wanna worry gramps or burden anyone, but I wanna help you Yuug' anyway I can. So tell me, talk to me buddy, what went down on the docks the other night?"

Yuugi seemed to shrink slightly at the mention. "I… I don't want to talk about it Jounouchi." He murmured. "You have no idea how much I… I really don't want to talk about it."

And with that he got up and walked from the room. It was rare to see Yuugi walk away from a conversation like this, but it was obviously something he wasn't prepared to be pushed on, which meant…

"Things are gettin' pretty bad." He said to himself, slowly rising from his chair.

Yuugi was downstairs, on the couch when he got to the bottom of the stairs, flipping on the television and pointedly avoiding which ever channel was showing news. His grandfather was in the kitchen preparing dinner when he passed.

"I'm headin' home now Gramps." He said, poking his head in. Surogoku Mutou looked up at him from the carrots he had been chopping, heard the television in the lounge room and smiled somewhat apologetically.

"Don't mind anything Yuugi said Jounouchi, he doesn't mean to be short when he is, but… he's a little touchy about wanting to talk about what Yami no Yuugi does, and last night was particularly bad, I don't think I've seen him so white in my life.." He said with a small shake of his head.

"There's nothing to mind, I just… pushed him a little too far with my questions. I understand. I told him to stay home for a week, so if you need anything done don't hesitate to gimme a call, k?" Jounouchi said with a grin.

Grandpa returned it gratefully as Jounouchi slipped on his shoes and headed out the other entrance to the house.

Yuugi sighed, hearing the door close as Jounouchi left, his grandfather explaining about it, them both talking about him as though he had some disease it wasn't polite to mention. As though he couldn't hear them. Last night… last night had been one of the worst. It had been a large drain on his strength, not to mention the nightmares he'd been having. A black void, both hot and cold in unbearable degrees along with flashes and glimmers of light, images flickering past like polaroids caught in the wind, each one a memory, an image of what had transpired in the night.

The screams of those caught in the warehouse plagued him more than anything. He hadn't fought hard enough for control. The beating he would've received would have been nothing compared to the pain they suffered as they either suffocated or were burnt alive.

He shuddered, some part of his mind telling him that they had done things similar to others, and would've kept doing it. They were a gang, they'd hurt many. But that didn't excuse what he had done. What the creature the curse changed him to had done.

'_How could that be me doing those things. Not even in my darkest dreams could I do anything close… how could… how could I bring myself to…'_ His grip tightened around the remote.

Things had been clearer later, he'd felt more aware when the transformation occurred, maybe he was getting stronger against it, building an immunity. Maybe soon he'd be able to control it. He could only hope. But he'd have a whole week to ponder that, and no more heads to add on to the count.

* * *

He'd been home five days, and he was _bored_. He worked very rarely in the store, his grandfather not wanting him to do anything but nothing and so reluctant to let him help out in the store, which made him feel entirely useless, and very bored. Even shop work was better than lazing on the couch watching three year old soaps. He'd finished every game that had been unfinished at the start of the week, within the first three days of the new 'home for a week' policy. Since then he'd had nothing to do.

He flopped onto his bed, feeling healthier than he had in a while. At least he'd been able to take time out to reconcile somethings he'd never been really strong enough to deal with these past few recent weeks. Like just lazily enjoying himself, spending time doing nothing, sprawled on the couch without being too tired to stay conscious through a movie. To really think about what was going on with his life while the tattoo wasn't consuming him.

Anzu had come around last night and spent a few hours with him between her work and late night classes. They'd just lazed around, watched some hired movies, the labyrinth never ceased to amuse him and so Anzu had hired it out especially. She'd rested against him as they'd watched. A comfortable weight against his side, pleasantly warm and welcoming, and he'd rested enough to stay awake to enjoy it.

They had lazily made out on the couch in the time between the labyrinths end and the time she had to leave for class. It hadn't been very long. His back had tingled the entire time, prickled slightly when her hand had brushed over it, but other than that, nothing.

For the entire five days thus far it had done nothing past that moment. When he saw it, he noticed it always seemed slightly darker than it had before. He heard a whisper, something too faint to make out the words, but loud enough to hear.

He shook his head. The boredom must be driving him mad.

* * *

Yami no Yuugi – as he'd heard himself referred to – sat in the dark. He was _always_ in the dark, though just recently it had lightened to a very dark grey. The boy who bore the black tattoo was becoming stronger. Since the tattoo had activated for the first time, it had been able to gain more energy at a greater rate than it had all the years it had remained asleep.

He reached out a hand, testing the weft of the darkness in front of him. It was softer, weaker.

He smirked, the light was getting to it. Soon he would be able to communicate with him, and perhaps even project himself into world through him. He was becoming stronger very quickly.

Since the tattoo had begun drawing energy in all those years ago, the weft of the dark had weakened from the time when it had been so thick he hadn't had the space to move his lungs in mimic breathing. It had taken a vast amount of gathered light to break the seal, the toll on the boy had been immense, but it had been worth it.

For those few moments when the dark power had coursed through the boy and his consciousness, will and light had been too weak to control it, he'd had full control. He'd breathed in air that actually had life in it! Tasted the musk of a dark alleyway, been able to feel rock and damp and cold, instead of just pressure, and standing before him was the man he had to thank for it.

Only something truly terrifying would force the boy to pull so strongly on the tattoo for protection, enough desperation and fear that his light would flare hot enough to melt the seal and free the magic. He owed so much to the brute, but then again, he'd threatened his bearer. Worse, he'd _assaulted_ him. That thug had dragged his bearer to the ground in an attempt to sully the light, something his curse would not permit in any circumstances, and nor would he. He'd taken great pleasure in driving his fist into his flesh again and again, the dark power making him so strong he was nearly drunk with the raw power of it. It had been so wonderful, the painful cries and blood once the skin broke, the sweet symphony of vengeance.

Unfortunately the magic wasn't strong enough yet to be sustained for long, and had faded, as had he. But now he could come out more often, even use magic now. The darkness was so easily called upon, but it was still a drag on the boy whose light fuelled and spurred the darkness to greater heights. But recently his bearer had been resting, growing stronger and stronger.

Soon. Soon he would meet his bearer. The first one since his entrapment with a soul bright enough and strong enough to break the seal and wake the tattoo. He would thank him for giving him those few moments of freedom. Thank him for breaking through the darkest times of his non-existence. Tell him that it was so miraculous to fly, and he had him to thank. The darkness created wings for him, though they acted more as something akin to modern solar panels. They flared to cover more ground, to draw in more delicious light, to absorb the dark from the souls that were destroyed in their quest to gain the bearers light.

He sighed.

Though the boy was growing stronger. This meant that his time as sole inhabitant when the tattoo was active would be over sooner than he'd like, though… sharing with the boy was a beautiful prospect. Currently his bearer wasn't able to maintain control while the energy was burning in his blood, which left him, the more experienced one to control the magic and therefore the body. But later as the boy's mind and energy developed to cope, he would be able to maintain control over his body while the shadows inhabited it.

Yami no Yuugi sighed, leaning back against the black, hearing wisps of the boys thoughts. He'd felt the flare of emotion from the day before spark again slightly, his host obviously reminiscing in his boredom.

Yami no Yuugi remembered it too. Some female touching his bearer. Her hand had touched the tattoo and he'd felt the brush of it against his own back, the constant part of him that felt as the bearer did. He'd bristled angrily. How _dare_ she touch _his_ bearer! She was not fit to try and covet such light as his! To touch him like that, with the slight dim to her soul as well! Jealously had swelled and boiled his blood as he felt the bearer responding to her, the desire for her. He could hear him, he knew what was going on, and he _hated_ it.

No one should be touching him. He should be his. He protected him, his light was life to him, his penance, his duty, his everything. No hand should be touching the tattoo but his, no lips should kiss the bearers unless they were his. The bearer wasn't for anyone but him. His light, _his_. He would protect it!

But… he was a spirit, and she a girl. Undoubtedly he had deep feelings for her, and she at least reciprocated part of them. He should be glad that she could make his bearers light glow slightly brighter, but he could make it so much brighter; make him happier, he was sure!

One day he would be able to touch, and that day, would be the day that his bearer's infatuation with that girl ended!

He groaned at his own jealous thoughts. Grimacing as he thought of how very sad it was for him to even think like that. Although he knew he couldn't help it, as part of who, or rather _what,_ he was. He couldn't help but desire and feel possessive of his bearer. Covet him as the precious commodity he was. No one alive could understand how precious, unless they dealt in the dark ways. Only a fellow… a fellow… a fellow _what?!_

The growled, shifting restlessly. Curse his memories. Curse his understanding without actual knowledge. Curse this curse.

He felt light spark briefly, and tested the weft of the dark again. Tomorrow. He'd be able to speak to him tomorrow.

* * *

Day six.

Boredom had nearly completely killed him. His mind had nearly completely dissolved, but he felt stronger, better. As though his body had finally been able to recover from the after effects of his curse. Maybe these breaks weren't such a bad idea, but he didn't think his mind could take it. This was it, the day before the last day. Then he would go for a walk in the park in broad daylight, go buy a new game to play, and visit Ryou at the coffee shop.

Currently however he was simply lying on his bed, staring at the roof, just waiting for something to happen. For Grandpa to call up and say that dinner was ready, or that Anzu was on the phone, or Jounouchi, or Ryou. Or someone had called around. Or mum mysteriously returned. _Something_.

The something he got wasn't quite what he expected.

'_Greetings bearer.'_

He sat bolt upright, staring wildly around his room. Someone… he heard someone. He must've heard it in his room somewhere, because the other possibilities were frightening.

A rich chuckle sounded, though… it didn't sound as though it was an actual sound, more that he'd been fooled into hearing something that wasn't there. Hearing in his mind not his ears, but that's just insane.

'_Such fear in thine pristine heart__. Fear not bearer of the tattoo.'_

His fingers clenched instinctively in the sheets, head swivelling around his room, he had to be hearing with his ears, had to.

"Who… who's there?" He asked the empty room.

'_You know who.'_ The voice replied cryptically.

The beginnings of a new kind of fear blossomed in his heart. Was this the curse speaking to him? Could the thing that controlled him talk now? No… no it just changed him to make him crueller, it didn't have a set of personalities. It wasn't as though he was being possessed, just changed with magic. Was this the insanity of the curse talking to him? The other being he became whispering in his ear while he was conscious?

'_I reside without identification, though thou seemed to hath dubbed me Yami no Yuugi.'_ The voice replied, deeper than his own. _'Thank you, for freeing me the shackles I had been cursed.'_

Yuugi turned cold. 'Thank you for freeing me'. Oh gods, he was being possessed. It wasn't just magic, but an evil thing taking over his body. He unleashed something on the world that killed and blew things up. Shit!

'_You needn't tremble so bearer. I have never harmed thee. Nor will I ever.'_ The voice purred into his mind, in a way that he supposed was meant to be reassuring, but it only succeeded in giving Yuugi the chills, frightening him more.

"No. No, no, no. Get out of my head." He whispered, eye shut tight. "_Out_!"

He tried to force the voice out, block out the sound.

He felt the wind of a mental sigh.

'_Desire me or not, thou art bound to me__, as I am thou.'_

With that comment, Yuugi suspected the voice to be gone, but stayed on his bed; eyes clenched closed, hands pressed to his ears. Things just kept getting worse. He wanted to recklessly explode from his balled position, yell, scream, weep tears of outrage and helplessness.

Wasn't there anything he could control?! That wasn't controlling him?!

The Tattoo had him, and now he finds out that Yami no Yuugi isn't actually him but something else entirely different which was taking over his body to kill and maim. Was that voice the representation of the tattoo's consciousness? The thing which controlled him? The him that was not actually him at all?

Why couldn't life be simple?! Why couldn't he have what he wanted? The only time he felt that he'd truly got what he'd wanted was when Anzu had first agreed to go out with him. Had the tattoo been there then? Had it been responding then? Had it just been growing and growing until finally it exploded? And why hadn't that consciousness spoken to him before?

No, the day he'd asked Anzu at, had been terrified, and he hadn't even felt it stir. Thinking back on previous bully encounters his back always became slightly warmer than the rest of him but… on that day…

_

* * *

It was decidedly hard not to squirm when Anzu was staring at him like that. It wasn't just her usual staring down when he said something against better judgment, it was staring at him as though he'd sprouted something from his forehead which had then proceeded sing a sonnet about the joys of cold pasta; or something to that effect._

He chuckled nervously, hiding a hand in his hair and ruffling it slightly. "Ano... Anzu, you're uh... you're making me very uncomfortable."

He hadn't done anything really so bad as a sonnet, it was merely an invitation really. An invitation for her to go out and have a meal with him, and to make meals such as that a more regular fixture to their lives. It was nerve racking, took all the courage he possessed in his body (and he was still shaking slightly, heart pounding) but he'd asked Anzu to date him. Chills had gone down his back when he'd started to ask, but now after years of watching and wanting, he'd done it at last. He shuffled on his feet slightly, trying to disperse the tension.

"I...I dunno Yuugi. Could I... could I maybe have some time to think about it?" She said, eyes darting away from him.

'No, I want an answer now so I can sleep at night.'

* * *

That cold chill down his spine… the tattoo? Or that feeling in his subconscious…he had to wonder if it had been his subconscious or the consciousness of the black tattoo. Or was it only the first time it activated it developed this personality.

There were so many questions.

Throwing his face in to the pillow of his bed, his hands clenched in frustration. Lying face down on his bed, the black tattoo – though hidden beneath his shirt – pulsing gently between his skin tone and a darker one.

"I hate this." He said fiercely, though the effect dulled by the muffling of the pillow in his face. "I hate this."

'_Such purity could not hate so.'_ A voice replied.

Yuugi wasn't so surprised this time.

"I hate _you_." Yuugi continued, this time addressing the voice.

A low chuckle. '_Then be without shield oh bearer. Neither I, nor tattoo, shall shield thee. Thine light will be stark and stripped, and beaten before three days dusk.' _Amusement. '_Call upon thine shields, when thine heart tells thee shields art needed. Let me see thine hate then.'_

Yuugi felt that chill again, and this time was sure the voice had left. Suddenly the world pitched, he felt a strange tug, suddenly hot all over. He was so _warm_, suddenly flushed all over. His head felt light, as though he could float from the floor suspended from it, but he wasn't sure how to stand. He released a weak whimper before falling unconscious, face down on his bed.

* * *

The next day he felt… lighter. He didn't look pale but he seemed to have a glow about him that reminded his grandfather of a pregnant woman (something to which Yuugi had squawked in outrage to when he'd heard the comment). When he looked in the mirror at his back, the black tattoo was hardly visible, practically gone. It was a mystery. Had… had both the voice and the tattoo vanished as the voice said they would?

He grinned. Wide and happy. Yes. He'd never ask for them back and he wouldn't have to deal with that anymore!

He practically bounced out the front door to go to the coffee shop. He wished his grandfather a cheery goodbye, and smiled stupidly to himself all the way there. He took up his usual booth and waited for Ryou to spot him.

It didn't take long.

"Yuugi!" Said a light and slightly lilting voice, happily surprised. "It seems like it's been ages since I've seen you in here! And you look a lot better than when I last saw you too!"

"Hi Ryou-kun." Yuugi replied, smiling in amusement to his friends reaction, and generally happy to see him.

"I go for lunch in ten minutes, you still be here?" He said quickly, looking around the busy store.

"You bet." Yuugi replied with an emphatic nod.

Ryou smiled. "Good." He said simply before adding. "Oh and Yuugi, you really _do_ look a lot better."

Yuugi's grin increased. A week of rest and now no black tattoo to worry about. His life seemed to have improved by leaps and bounds. Though something niggled in his mind, remembering the voice's comments.

His gaze flicked out the window, watching people walk past without really seeing them._'Be without shield. It wasn't a shield, but a sword… and a couple of pistols too.'_ He thought to himself. Not that that mattered anymore, he was safe from that now.

It later became apparent that he wasn't safe from much else. He enjoyed a coffee with Ryou while the other hungrily munched down a bento he'd packed that morning. They chatted idly, generally just enjoying the others company. Conversation wandered from their respective partners to the computerised version of the tabletop RP that was being released soon.

After he'd left the café he'd decided to go the long way home, through the park. A mistake.

'_Big, _big_, mistake._' He thought, staring at a particularly evil looking woman, looking at up at her from the pavement. People seemed to go out of their way to run into him. He was beginning to stammer an apology when a stiletto heel came down very _very_ painfully into his stomach. He gasped, curling around the injured body part protectively. It felt like he'd been stabbed in the stomach with a steel _pike_. Tears gathered at the corners of his eyes as he rolled to his side, a stiletto toe striking his back before angry footsteps could be heard stamping away.

This time a tear slipped out as his back seared painfully, but only in the area he'd been kicked. The tattoo, true to Yami's word that they would cease to interfere, remained utterly inactive. He lay on the ground panting, heaving while he recovered, wincing as he clambered back to his feet.

Time to head home. He had barely managed four steps when he ran into a suited chest.

"You're in my way."

And Yuugi met pavement again. What was _wrong_ with everyone today?! He gasped, falling flat on his back and winding himself. Though he was close enough to the edge of the pavement to land on slightly more merciful grass. His back remained cold.

His head throbbed from hitting the grass and being smacked by that crazy suit guy. He once more staggered to his feet, his body shaking slightly. He breathed shakily a few times before drawing to his full –however diminutive – height. His stomach ached beyond belief, and he was sure that a bruise was already forming. His back wasn't so bad, though was still painful, so he quickly crouched forward again, finding it too painful to stand fully erect.

Steering clear of all human life he traversed the grass and tree's and shrubs, back to his home. Running into one other just before reaching his front door. This man had grabbed his elbow and looked at him. Yuugi for his part had stared back.

The man's eyes shrunk suddenly, growing fearful as though Yuugi suddenly knew some dark secret about him or something he'd done. Yuugi just continued to stare at him… there was… something about this man.

"Don't accuse me." He snarled, burying his fist into Yuugi's already abused stomach, and throwing him down onto the pavement.

It was almost as if everyone had caught on to his good mood and had instantly wanted to destroy it. Well they could stop trying, because Yuugi was sure the first stiletto to the gut had done it. When he finally managed to stagger in through the front door of the game shop, his grandfather, sitting almost robotically behind the counter, had instantly rushed forward, inwardly surprised when he found no tattoo marks, and that Yuugi was wearing a shirt beneath his jacket.

"Yuugi, Yuugi what happened?" He demanded softly, supporting him best he could. Why hadn't the tattoo activated? Or maybe it had and this was just an after effect. Why was his grandson so badly injured?

"People…" He wheezed coughing slightly, wincing at the contraction of his stomach muscles. "People… don't like… me very… much today."

* * *

The next day hadn't been much better. He'd woken to find _the_ most beautiful bruise on his stomach he'd ever seen, it even hurt to sit up from lying position because that involved using his stomach muscles. Bruised stomach muscles. He'd made the mistake of assuming it would only be that day. That it was just a particularly bad day. That was all.

He'd been running home, eyes keenly looking for anyone he may run into. It was growing dark, it got darker quickly this time of year. He had been out picking a video for him and his grandfather to watch. One of the video store people had been very nice to him while the other had been plainly arrogant and rude. The way people had been acting towards him lately, couldn't just be a co-incidence. It _had_ to have something to do with the tattoo. Perhaps… perhaps it had done something with that magic to make him a magnet for people with a dark nature.

Did he really expect that creature to be fair when saying he wouldn't come unless called? He was just waiting for Yuugi to call him now that he'd become a beacon for every evil intention within a four kilometre radius. Waiting for Yuugi to hurt enough to draw his sword.

He was almost home when it happened. A harsh yank of his collar, tightening around his throat and gagging him briefly. He was pulled backwards away from the main road, never given the opportunity to turn around.

"Such a pretty light. Mm, you'll do _very_ nicely." It was a female. A very strong and sickly voiced female, with an evil cackle like something out of the movies.

"Please, let me go!" Yuugi cried, attempting to dig his heels in, but going backwards, and already way off balance, he couldn't gather enough leverage.

She cackled again. "I think not."

He was pulled into an alley way, heading to an ominous looking door. "No, I think that I'll keep you."

Yuugi renewed his struggles flailing his arms wildly, the plastic bag holding the two DVD's he'd picked for the evening, swinging around dangerously. To his luck, it swung back and a corner struck her in the temple. She staggered, loosing her grip long enough for him to escape.

Without pause he fled, heading full pelt out of the alleyway and back towards home. His feet pounded on the pavement, hardly a car drove past, and his breath came in harsh pants, heart pounding in his ears.

A voice laughed, coming from…above?

Yuugi looked around wildly for the woman pursuing him, never slowing in his mindless run. She wasn't anywhere. Not ahead, behind, or to the sides. Another laugh.

_There_! He thought, catching a glimpse of her silhouette as it ran… along the rooftops? He swivelled his head quickly to look up at the top of the building he was running past. She was running beside him, except atop the buildings, leaping between them effortlessly.

Yuugi's heart pounded in fear. What was going on? There was a lady running along the rooftops, she didn't seem to notice as she leapt gaps she shouldn't have been able to. He sped up as much as he could to try and escape the strange woman. Where were the wings when _he_ wanted them?

Except he couldn't manage to get away from her, she suddenly started to over take him, and before he knew it, she was in front of him, fist flying forward. His vision blurred as pain flared through his chest. It was so hard to breathe.

Suddenly there were more of them. Two more to be exact.

They grabbed him by his arms and hauled him up and towards a white van which seemed to have appeared out of nowhere… but there had been light with him all the way, nearly constant. Why hadn't he noticed this before?

"Take this one to the house. I'll go find another and bring them myself." She commanded briskly, winking at the slumped Yuugi as he was dragged to the van.

"No" He moaned weakly.

Ignoring his protest he was tossed into the back, hands bound behind his back, lying on his side as the other two climbed into the driver and passenger side respectively. He was left alone in the back, trying to grip the ground with his skin as they sped around corners.

He'd… Gods he'd… His eyes clenched tightly closed. He had to do something; he couldn't just be caught and carried away to some house, kidnapped. He… he needed help.

"Help!" He yelled. "Someone help!" Maybe someone would hear, and get the number of the van.

"Shut up!" The driver yelled, glancing back at him for an instant.

"Help!!!" He continued to yell.

"Hey, get back there and make him quiet down." The driver said to the guy beside him gruffly.

The other grunted in annoyance, undoing his seatbelt and clambering awkwardly into the back of the moving van.

"HELP!"

"Shut _up_!" The gruff man roared, backhanding him across the face, burying his foot into Yuugi's already far too painful stomach.

He was winded, and could taste the sickly copper tang of blood in his mouth, slipping from the corner of his lips as his teeth were stained red.

"Help." He wheezed out weakly. He couldn't stop, it didn't matter how much he got hurt, he didn't want to go to this "house" the lady had spoke of.

"I said, shut up brat!" The foot returned.

Tears gathered at the corners of his eyes. It was no use, he'd have to… he'd have to draw a sword to act as a shield; he couldn't take much more of this and have a stomach or ribs left afterwards.

"Help." He said weakly once more. A foot came down on him directly, pressing his back to the ground, stepping on his bruised stomach. He couldn't help himself any more.

"_Yami!"_he screamed, black tattoo burning against the soft skin of his back. It shone with nothingness, as hot as white steel.

'…_please help me.'_

A smirk. _'As thou dost wish it, I shalt make it so.'_

He heard the cries of alarm as blackness exploded around him, the tattoo's appearing all over his skin, his shirt tearing and searing with the heat of the magic pulsing through his system, the shadows flowing in his very veins. He felt Yami's smirk appear on his face as he began to loose control. Felt the brush of the other personality against his briefly, as though tagging him to take over.

He heard the crunch of bones as control fled completely and his other attacked, black wings perched on his back. The screeching of tires, the agonising shriek of metal as he tore through and flung himself into the night air.

He heard the screams of the passengers as their car collided with something far more solid than the car. The dark was back, and he had welcomed it.

* * *

Please feed the Author. 


	3. Ch2 The Reluctant Team

**Title:** The Black Tattoo  
**Author:** SilverWing147  
**Part:** 2/?  
**Rating:** Yet to be classified...properly  
**Warning:** AU, BL  
**Pairing:** eventual YYxY, YxA, other pairings yet to be realised.

**A/N:** Yeah, it's a tad bit late, but I'm kinda busy, I'm just glad I'm ahead in my writing, I haven't written all week. I hope you like this chapter, and that some of your questions are answered.

* * *

Chapter 2

The Reluctant Team

Yuugi gently cracked an eyelid open, staring blearily around his room. He was in bed. In his favourite soft, blue cotton pyjamas. His mouth tasted foul, and his teeth had that fuzzy feeling to them that told him he really needed to brush. It wasn't morning. He could see the sun form his window, which meant it was some time in the afternoon.

He groaned, trying to rolling over only to cry out in pain as an agonising sensation flared up his back and along his front, the tattoo flaring briefly before he stopped his attempt to move. His body ached terribly, his shoulder blades felt torn, and his muscles were sore as though he had tried to run one too many marathons, not that he could even manage one.

He let out a long, slow breath. He had almost been kidnapped, but he'd been saved. Saved himself and damned them. When had he become so selfish? He knew that releasing the tattoo, calling for the dark would ultimately mean death to many others unless he could gain control, which seemed an impossible feat.

He could hear his grandfather talking to someone downstairs, likely Jounouchi, or not so likely, Anzu. Ignoring the pain, he moved to his side, huddling down deeper in the blankets as a chill swept over him.

What would they think if they knew? What would Anzu think if she knew about the curse on his back, and the dark personality in his mind? That his had been the hands that had killed so many so far. His the body which had channelled the energy into setting fire to a warehouse of gang people. What would she say? Would she even talk to him, look at him the same way?

His heart clenched at the thought of her rejection. Just suddenly turning to go, a look of disgust on her face. No… they needn't know that he had chosen himself over the lives of others. They didn't need to know how much of a coward he was.

A tear slipped free of his eye. He was so damned useless against practically everyone. He could defend himself to an extent, but the moment they threw him off balance, caught him by surprise or started laying into him, he was screwed. It was always the bigger meaner ones that came for him, and last night he'd been chased by the scariest woman he'd ever seen. He could've taken it, he was sure it couldn't have gotten much worse but… but he'd still, he'd called Yami. He'd feared for his life, feared for himself and drawn forth a sword he'd finally sheathed.

You kill to survive. But how many is it okay to kill to save your own life? It was hardly survival with the black tattoo. He could survive, with the wings of the curse he could flee, or with the magic disarm them, knock them out, but _kill?_ Was it always necessary to _kill_ them?

A weight settled over his heart.

How many had he sentenced now? His fingers clenched in the sheets. He was so selfish.

There was a hesitant tap on his door, before the distinctive squeaking sound of said door being crept open and a head poking into his room.

"Yuugi? You awake?" His grandfather.

"Mm. I'm awake Grandpa." He said, voice slightly raspy. He tried to sit up, but his weak muscles hurt then failed, and so he remained lying in his bed.

"Thank gods. How are you feeling?" He asked, quickly entering the room, and perching on the edge of his bed, staring at him through worried old eyes.

Yuugi forced a smile. "I'm okay. I've been better but I'll be fine."

His grandfather frowned. "Yuugi, you've been sleeping since I found you unconscious in your room with the skylight window open at one am yesterday morning." He said flatly. "And you're still covered in the tattoo's."

Yuugi blinked and looked at his hands. He hadn't even noticed, but he was covered in black cruel marks. He'd never seen them before. Only in pictures of Black Raven, but never on himself. They were gone when he woke up. He guessed the tattoo was making sure he knew it was attached to him again.

"Yuugi." His grandfather said seriously. "What happened?"

He glanced away. "I…" He had to lie, close to the truth but still leaving out the important things. He couldn't admit to his grandfather what he'd done. "I… I was chased by someone grandpa, that's all. The same as always."

"There was a car accident not too far from our home Yuugi, the roof of the van was burst open by something from the inside. You weren't just chased." His grandfather said quietly.

He winced. He needed to explain more, but his grandfather would never believe that he'd been captured while the tattoo was in control of him… or at least while _Yami_ was.

"I…I was caught and thrown in a van, they were going to take me to a house or something." He replied softly. "One of the guys, started hitting me in the back of the van because I was yelling, and it activated the tattoo."

His grandfather gasped in shock. Kidnapped?!

"B-But I'm fine!" Yuugi said hastily. "I-I think because I was hurt before, it took the tattoo longer to take control, which is why it didn't activate until later, that's all. It's fine, I'm fine, really grandpa."

He'd never felt so old as then, staring at his grandson who was trying to reassure him that everything would be fine, when really he should be the one reassuring his grandson that it would be okay. But Yuugi had always been a different than other boys.

_He folded his news paper irritably, another tragedy making headlines. Disgruntled, he rose from his chair, a little slowed by age, but otherwise spryly. He had to be spry, taking care of his grandson full time now. His mother had hardly been home since the stillbirth of her daughter. She had run to her husband in Tokyo, and then kept running._

_He smiled at the sound of his bubbly young grandson in the next room, laughing at whatever toy had caught his eye. Even though he was small, he had a gamer's instinct. Yuugi just… knew things._

_He hadn't told him his mother wasn't going to be home for a long time, but he had a feeling that the inquisitive boy already knew somehow._

"_Yuugi?" He called, entering the room that was now permanently Yuugi's. _

"_Yes Grandpa?" He answered brightly from his place on the floor, turning around to smile at him with a wide cheesy smile. He couldn't help but grin back._

"_Look Grandpa, look!" He exclaimed, bringing the toy from in front of him to show his grandfather. It was a puzzle. Just a small simple one but he'd solved it._

"_Wow! Well done Yuugi!" He proclaimed proudly, walking over to crouch down before the accomplished child. "That's very good. You're so _clever_ Yuugi. How long did it take you to do it?"_

_He scrunched up his face, concentrating as he tried to figure out the time. They were only just learning that in school, but he picked these things up quickly. "The big hand was on the three and the little one was on the four, so it was four… four…"_

"_Four fifteen." He supplied._

_Yuugi nodded. "Mm, four fifteen, when I started."_

"_That was only a little while ago! You did that really quickly Yuugi. Your mum will be so happy when she hears." He encouraged, ruffling his soft hair._

_Yuugi's demeanour changed drastically at the mention of his mother. His smile faded quickly, and his eyes looked away from his grandfather, to the corner of the room._

"_Yuugi… what's wrong?"_

_Yuugi's head dipped slightly, obscuring his face from proper view. "Mummy is… she's gone for a long time isn't she Grandpa? Because of, because of the baby that went away." He looked up; face serious as he stared unwaveringly, unnervingly at his grandfather. "She's not going to come home soon, is she?"_

_He could only stare at Yuugi's insight. He hadn't mentioned it to him, but he knew. He always seemed to know so much about other people, and so little about himself._

"_She's gone away, so she can feel better hasn't she?" He asked._

"_Yes Yuugi. Yes Yuugi, she has. But never think that means she doesn't love you." He pulled the smaller into his arms, hiding that serious, staring face away beneath his beard. "Your mother loves you very dearly, she'll come back when she's feeling a bit better. She just doesn't want to worry you by letting you see her sad." He explained._

"_But Grandpa." Yuugi said, leaning back to stare once more at his grandfather, however eyes not so disturbingly serious as they were earlier. More innocent and childishly confused. The way a normal kid would be. "I thought you said that everyone gets sad, and it was okay to get upset when bad things happened."_

"_That's true." He admitted, rising to his feet then scooping up his grandson. "It is okay to get upset; but you shouldn't be sad now! You finished that puzzle!"_

"_Yup! I finished the puzzle!" He cheered, squirming slightly, all traces of his previous behaviour gone. He sighed._

"_You act so strangely sometimes Yuugi. Sometimes I feel like I'm not even sure it's you I'm looking at." His Grandpa joked exasperatedly, holding the young form of his grandchild._

_The smaller giggled. "Of course I'm me grandpa! Who else would I be?"_

"_I don't know." He whispered dramatically. "Maybe a mad scientist who's been drinking potions!" He cried, tickling the small boy's sides mercilessly, listening to him squealing in delight as he attempted to squirm away._

It had all been a joke, those words. But how true they became. He stared at his grandson, smiling at him though it was obvious all he wanted was to collapse from exhaustion. What he wouldn't give for his grandson to be selfish like a normal human being, and wince and moan and complain about how he hurt everywhere; that his stomach and back where severely bruised. How it hurt to breathe. That he hated the black tattoo and the world wasn't fair; seek the support of others instead of thinking only of not burdening them. To tell him what was wrong in every detail.

No.

His grandson only smiled and told him that "It's okay grandpa, I'm fine."

Why wasn't Yuugi ever selfish?

* * *

It was dark and once again he was running home. It was just a bad scenario that kept repeating. He'd gone to visit Anzu, after having to spend so long recovering, and her unable to visit as the tattoo's just wouldn't disappear. As soon as they had, he had gone around to her apartment to apologise and spend time with her.

Time had of course gotten away from him, and he had no money for a taxi, and there was _no way_ he was going to impose on Anzu to get him a taxi home or drive him, so he'd left with a smile, and as soon as he was out of sight, started running.

It hadn't helped. His scalp prickled in awareness to the figure following him. It was her again. He could feel it, the tattoo warmed, and the tattoo's showed slightly on the back of his hands as he glimpsed them, pale skin flashing under the streetlamps he passed. It was ready to spring into action, smelling his fear as he was pursued.

He couldn't run home though, leading her there would only mean trouble for his grandfather. No… he had to run somewhere else safe, like into a hotel or something… not that he could afford a hotel. Maybe he could hide… in the park somewhere. He knew all the hiding places there from when he was a child, though somehow he doubted that they would really stop this lady finding him once again.

'_Into the alley bearer, the dark will conceal thine light.'_

Grudgingly he obeyed, darting into the alleyway, instantly feeling the tattoo burn and the shadows of the alley stretch out to him. What was…? He heard Yami whisper something strange and foreign, the sound soft and loud as though his lips were beside his ear. It was a trick? He thought Yami meant he'd just hide in the dark and she wouldn't find him!

His awareness greyed, his jacket was pulled free and thrown into the shadows of the alley as the tattoos tore through his shirt and the wings burst from his back. In a breath the shadows whistled through his blood again. Yami had taken control now.

"Hello." Yami greeted, voice sultry with almost sadistic glee as a shadow appeared in the mouth of the alleyway. He was defending his host again. The darkness of his soul should conceal Yuugi's so for all purposes the light the lady had been chasing would be gone, instead she would find nothing but night. A night that would swallow her sanity if she dared step closer to it.

"Who…" She stared in puzzlement, before suddenly her face broke out in a grin and she stood a little straighter. "Black Raven. The little bird they twitter about." She chuckled. "Well this is fortunate. I get to be the cat that swallows the bird."

Yami smirked, something which widened as she continued to talk. Obviously she hadn't dealt with _proper_ shadows before. Not just the trick to enhance a little strength.

"Where was that light I was chasing? It was a bit dimmer than when I had first spotted him; probably tired from our last encounter." She pondered aloud looking around the alleyway as though he was standing at its edges. "I saw him run down here but now I can't feel it."

She narrowed her eyes at him in a glare. "You. What have you done with him?!"

"Should the shadows starve when thou art so willing to chase food to their maw?" Yami replied, voice rich with confidence and mockery, goading her to fight.

"_Bastard_." She spat. "You'll pay."

"Ladies first." He smirked.

His wings flattened and he shot forward, but he was slower… what was going on?! He threw his fist forward to strike only to find her dodging it, and bringing her knee up into his stomach. What?

He gasped as he was winded, and felt a hand grip one of his wings painfully, as though to use it to throw him, but heard her scream in pain, flinging him away instinctively. He attempted to chuckle, though because he was winded it only came out as a raspy breathless sound.

"Do not try touch the purest night, when thou still hath glimmers of dusk in thine heart." He chuckled. "The first lesson."

He felt the dark tattoo's on his skin burn slightly, though outwardly showing no signs, he frowned in confusion. What was going on?! Why were the shadows fluctuating?!

'_I won't let you control me all the time._'

Yuugi.

Yuugi was fighting for control. He wasn't fighting the tattoo, just for control. Fighting with him though meant that briefly neither of them were in control, and the shadows fluctuated as they were left to their own devices in the body.

"Birds shouldn't fight with cats." She snarled, launching herself towards him.

His control greyed as he tried to dodge, the reaction slowed. He was caught by a vicious right hook and slammed to a wall. Lunging blindly, he amassed shadows and scattered them forward, hearing a grunt of bitten back pain as one hit.

He had to make this quick, before Yuugi could interfere further and jeopardise their lives.

He dodged, narrowly evading a blow to his chest, striking and catching her face. Yes. He continued to attack, landing a blow to her stomach, though not as powerful as normal.

One arm stopped listening, and he missed rhythm, leaving an opening. She took it.

He was kicked in the ribs, feeling them bruise under the blow, had it not been for the shadows in his body, they would have broken. He'd barely taken a breath when the next blow landed and he felt his stomach muscles begin to cave as a fist buried deep. Blow after blow. The head. Chest. Head. Stomach. Back. A kick to his face and he went flying into the brick of a building. He coughed, tasting blood in his mouth that was his own. He used one arm to lift himself, the other not fully co-operating. He winced as the shadows flared and burned.

He had to get out of here. He was badly injured. The shadows were growing out of control. He had to-

He bit his lip in an effort not to scream blue murder as his arm was trodden on and he was flung into another wall, a blast of darkness striking his chest as he weakly tried to shield.

His control was fading. The pain was weakening his concentration.

"Oh, mighty black bird; you're not a match for this little kitty." Her voice jeered from the other wall. Her footsteps sounded closer and closer. He had to maintain control to hide his bearer's soul from her, especially while he was so weakened. If only his bearer wasn't making things so _difficult_.

He staggered to his feet, legs trembling slightly. He was so weak, his concentration was split and the shadows took their toll on this body more speedily with their fluctuating.

"I have no time for little bird tonight, you're of not threat to me and given your weakness you couldn't have fed that light to your shadows, so all he's doing now is getting further from me." The woman concluded, sneering at the one they called the Black Raven. "You're only good for taking out thugs."

She hit him again and his legs collapsed. Too weak.

"My boss doesn't hire me to take out little black spots like you, and you keep the focus away from us, so I'll let you leave with a warning little birdie. You interrupt my hunt again, and next time it'll be your wings and your life." With a farewell boot to his face she left.

He was defeated, lying on the cold stones of the alleyway, the shadows stretching out lick his wounds hungrily. It took him a few moments to gather the strength to stand, and pumping the rest of his energy to his wing he flew out of the alleyway, toes skimming the roof tops as he headed back to the dwelling of his bearer making sure that lady was out of range. The shadows pulsed again as his bearer attempted to take control from him.

Bitterness whelmed in his throat like bile. Yuugi wanted control he could take it!

Under Yuugi's shaky will, the shadows flared with raw power, burning themselves out quickly, but not quickly enough to let Yuugi fall from a roof. They faltered as he flew to the ground with unexperienced wings. He crashed into the biting asphalt, grazing his skin to a rawness that bled liberally.

It was in a very sad and sorry state that Yuugi staggered in home, collapsing just inside the game shop door. A weak cry for his grandfather, the last words to leave his mouth before black rushed into his mind.

* * *

He could hear the distinctive sound of his grandfather's rumble.

He was home.

He hurt.

Bruises. _Lots_ of bruises. Lucky nothing broke. It'd take a take a while before he would be all pale skin again.

He _hurt_ everywhere. His ribs felt sore when he breathed, as though someone was pressing on his bruised chest. Hurt. He hurt even more than he had when he woke up last time he got beaten up. At least he wasn't exhausted to go on top of that, just pained.

'_Blame thine self for this injury.'_ A voice murmured. '_Had you not resisted, then _she_ would be licking her injuries like a wounded dog.'_

The voice grew louder, and seemed to have direction as well. Eyes still hazy, he could see a figure at the end of his bed. It sounded like Yami but… Yami was just a possessing voice. What was…?

'_Thou art pitiful.'_

He couldn't retaliate. Words a dry rasp in his throat, mind throbbing when he attempted to use it.

Anger. '_Because of you we were defeated, nearly killed. Had thine effort been towards our enemy…'_ He growled, but released it, trailing away angrily. _'Do not battle me, oh bearer, thou hath real enemies elsewhere.'_

On that bitter note he disappeared, like a wisp of vapour in a strong breeze, leaving Yuugi's mind and body aching. What greater enemy could there be than the one within him? Then again, the tattoo had never hurt him just everyone else.

"Yuugi!" He turned a bleary eye to the doorway, a distinctively female figure standing in the door way.

"A-An…zu?" He rasped.

"Oh Yuugi!" Her voice with thick with both shed and unshed tears of worry as she quickly moved forward, wrapping her arms around him, hardly hearing the groan of pain. "Yuugi! Oh Yuugi! I was so scared. I just came to visit and there was blood on the game shop floor and your grandfather wasn't there but the door was open. I thought something really terrible had happened! I should never have let you walk home at night like that! I should have stopped you! Oh Yuugi."

"Anzu…fine…I'm fine." He continued to rasp.

"Y-Yuugi." He cheek was damp with tears as she held his palm to her face, staring down at him with glistening wet eyes. "What happened? Your grandfather said he didn't know you just collapsed in the game shop."

Yuugi was glad that the sheet of his bed covered up his chest; it would undoubtedly be black with bruising. "No-Nothing. Just some thugs… I'm fine." He coughed weakly and quickly found a glass of water at his lips.

He drank thankfully, feeling the cool water soothing his throat. Anzu didn't leave his side until she had to leave for work. But she had sat there, running her fingers through his hair, over his forehead in quick nervous motions. He had reassured her he was fine, just a bit of bruising, he'd be fine in a few days.

Night came and light from the streetlamp outside shone in his window. He couldn't sleep. Yami's words ringing in his ears. This was all his fault, these injuries. He caused them. These were the wounds you got, when you fought your own sword.

It was a few days later, while Yuugi was still bed ridden and sore, that he saw just how much he could curse himself his own actions.

* * *

People were going missing. The newspapers crowed about it, the TV screamed about it, and the radio ranted about it. People were going missing; people that were only ever described by their families and friends as nice, honest, caring people who wouldn't hurt anyone.

They blamed the Black Raven, saying that for some reason he must be stealing the people, after all, many people close to the place where the victims were last seen remembered seeing a flash of something dark. So of course it had to be the Raven. If Yuugi's grandfather hadn't been aware that his grandson was in bed and confined totally to the house these past few days, he might even have believed it.

That was the conclusion they drew, and as Yuugi listened from his bed, his stomach dropped. It had been five days and he was practically recovered. Well recovered enough to get around without his stomach and ribs screaming at him. For those five days he'd heard it on the radio all the time. They were blaming his other for missing innocents, when really it was that woman. The woman that may have been defeated by the Black Raven had it not been for his resistance.

Yami had not ushered a word to him, since that first time he regained consciousness.

Inhabiting the same body, they couldn't avoid each other. Though so far they were managing well. But how could he ever come to treat his other with anything but fear. He was a _murderer_. He'd killed so many.

"Why?" Yuugi murmured to himself, mentally screaming it, waiting for his other.

'_For you.'_ The voice whispered from the back of his mind.

"You kill for yourself." Yuugi murmured in reply, eyes closing.

'_For you._' He insisted. _'All is for you.'_

Yuugi grimaced. "All is for me? You _tricked_ me, telling me to run into that alleyway just so you could take control. Pushing me the furthest away from control I've been since the first time the tattoo activated." He replied quietly. "You do this for yourself."

'_I concealed thine light from the she devil with my darkness. Thou art a fool for thine interference with matters thou doth not understand. For you I became a shield beaten from both sides.'_ Yami snapped, voice barely concealing his hurt and frustration. Receiving such a beating did nothing or his nerves, giving them a raw edge which chafed against any mention made which would only usually slightly irritate him.

Yuugi flinched, though the voice had no origin to flinch from. His fingers tightened slightly in his sheets. '_A shield beaten from both sides? What does…!' _His eyes widened slightly. A shield!

He understood now why Yami referred to himself and the tattoo as a shield. The darkness of the tattoo and Yami must hide his own light from visibility. He supposed while Yami wasn't in control it was just the tattoo that was shielding him so that he wasn't so noticeable, that's why when the tattoo and Yami were both gone he was attacked by nearly everyone.

That was why the crazy lady chasing him had said to Yami, that the light she was chasing had dimmed from before. It hadn't dimmed, the tattoo was _shielding_ him, and when Yami assumed control she couldn't sense him at all. How could he have been so stupid to have not realised this before?!

Yuugi's eyes clenched closed tighter than before, fingers gripping the sheets harder. He really had brought this on himself. What had he done? He understood Yami to be a dangerous thing, but still he was shielding him and he had tried to fight for control back, fighting him when he was only trying to defend him… gods…

"Yami I…" He words dried out in his throat. He felt remorse well from his chest at the concept that Yami had been trying to help him and he'd been doing the opposite of help, and yet, instead of just handing the control back to him, Yami had continued to take the beating. Yuugi had barely felt an echo of what the pain must've been, he'd experience first hand how strong that woman was. He owed Yami an apology, but it was hard to say. Hard to apologise for to the inhabitant of your body, to something you didn't trust, something you weren't sure existed beyond that voice, something that may very well be an extension of the tattoo. Perhaps he was the personality it had formulated to correspond with him, but he had still wounded him, he'd wounded them both.

"I'm sorry."

There was no answer, just a subtle brush against his mind that felt vaguely like an acceptance. He wasn't sure about this whole deal, he thought about it more and more often about how his life would progress from here, Yami controlling him to control the shadows that coursed through his body... but… he'd had control afterwards, when the tattoo had still been active… did that mean…

"Can _I_ use the magic of the black tattoo like Yami can?" He asked his room quietly.

'_Yes.'_ Yami's voice replied, quietly. His tone holding no sternness, mockery, anger, none of the vividness it had held previously. It was grey. '_Thine spirit is not yet strong enough to control the shadows in thine body, soon though, the shadows shalt listen to thee.'_

He could control them soon?! Would that mean that Yami wouldn't be able to control him anymore? Yami wouldn't be able to…

'_I am a shield. Shadows__ a sword. The tattoo a door to both. I will still be with thee but not in singular control, shadows respond better to kin than power.' _Yami's voice whispered.

A shield and sword. He had to learn how to control both. How to co-operate with his shield and wield his sword. But in the mean time…

"We have to stop _her_."

* * *

He was running. It was always the same scenario, though this time it was on purpose. A poorly drawn up plan, sketched in his mind. Run around town, attract her. The tattoo was being withdrawn slightly by Yami, and Yami buried deeply beneath his soul, so that his soul was slightly brighter than it was usually when the tattoo was still there. He was trying to lure that woman into attacking him, so that Yami could fight. Yami had agreed to share more of his conscious with Yuugi, and Yuugi for his part not to try fight for control.

It was a step closer to merging rather than fighting. Partnership rather than rivalry, together they formed a reluctant team to unite against the "crazy lady" as Yuugi had dubbed her.

Yuugi wasn't quite sure about how he should feel with the situation, considering how easy it had been for Yami to agree, he had barely said anything to persuade his dark controller into not suppressing his consciousness.

'_She chases._' Yami whispered into his mind, his voice distant.

That woman had started to track him. She was a little while away but Yami could feel her now that Yuugi was co-operating, even while the tattoo was inactive.

Yuugi turned down an alleyway, smartly discarding his jacket and shirt as the tattoo activated swiftly. Yami relished in the willingly given body, feeling Yuugi's presence pressing close to his, a warm breath on the back of his neck. He licked his lips, flaring his wings and springing to the top of a nearby roof, smirking as the shadows flooded his blood, his senses, and the wind rushed his face.

It was so good to feel.

She was closer, and with Yuugi presence so close to his, at least a small portion of it would glimmer through, if she could detect it.

He stood perched upon one of the taller building in the area, scanning the area for the woman if she was running rooftops again. Yuugi was watching through his eyes he could feel it, that press.

They were hunting now. They were the ones tracking down her instead of her tracking Yuugi down to capture his light.

Yami smiled like so much wicked glee and dark chocolate. "Here here kitten, the Raven wishes to play with thee."

She was drawing closer. Left.

He swivelled darting quickly to the next roof. She appeared at its edge a breath later. Her hair was wild and red, flashing around her face now she was still enough and in enough light for Yami to see her properly. The signature of her shadow was enough to know it was her but appearance would help in the event that she escapes.

Yami smirked in dark promise. In the _unlikely_ event she escapes.

She was dressed in nothing but black, a wild black trench coat, black boots. Her eyes were an intensely dark brown, darkened with sins and the light she'd stolen from the world. Her skin was pale and marked with a few light scars. Not unusual for someone who dealt in shadows and darkness.

"The little black birdie is back I see. There are easier ways to commit suicide you know." She goaded, smiling to reveal crooked teeth.

Yami chuckled in return. "My shadows shalt speak to thine life and end it."

She sneered, racing forward. "Whatever you say black bird!" She yelled, throwing her fist.

Without Yuugi restraining him in anyway, the shadows were steady. He easily blocked the first blow, and the second, returning strike with a blow to her stomach, swivelling to round house kick her in the head. He grinned in satisfaction. Oh yes.

He called the shadows, and they eagerly gathered to his hands, so that when next he struck the blow sent her reeling back, blackness covering her front before dispersing.

"How did you get stronger?" She rasped, steadying herself and wiping the blood from her lip. "How did you get so much stronger, and so fast?"

"Control." Yami replied simply wings flaring out and then flattening to boost his speed as he rammed his knee into her stomach, spin-kicking her into the nearest brick wall. "Thou art no match for me." He taunted.

She screamed in outrage charging at him throwing shadows and punches alike. Some barely even clipped Yami as he avoided the blows. She screamed once again in frustration calling shadows to rise from the ground and snap Yami's feet to it.

"Dodge now birdie." She called, striking out, a blow hitting Yami's face before he was able to suck enough shadows into his wings to free himself the shackles on his feet. He retaliated, striking blow after blow on her, feeling her bones touching his knuckles beneath the skin.

Not only had she assaulted his bearer, but she had beaten him, something he couldn't forgive. He had no mercy. The shadows hummed in his veins, making him stronger in their eagerness for blood shed. His knuckles were bruising from her shielding weakly with shadows. It wasn't enough to stop the blows but the impact against her wasn't nearly so bad as it should've been.

Yami smirked. She was prolonging the inevitable. She would fall to his shadows. That was her fate.

In a last ditch effort she struck forward with a knife, Yami was forced to avoid it drawing back. Oh well, it gave him a chance to admire his work. She was a mess of bruises, her lips red with blood from her mouth. Her breathing was ragged at best. It was nearly over.

He felt Yuugi coil back, before pressing forward with one clear thought imprinting itself to Yami's mind. He didn't want this.

She launched another attack, sending shadows flying towards him. His wings instantly came forward, cocooning around him, protecting him from the dark arrows, and as his wings consisted mainly of shadows they suffered no damage from the weak attack. She was close to finished.

But his bearer. His bearer didn't want her killed, and… he couldn't go against that wish without loosing the fragile trust he had gained.

"Surrender." He demanded. Perhaps she could be given to the police, stripping her of her shadows shouldn't be hard. She could be rendered harmless enough to be easily.

"Death first!" She cried. Fists clenching hard enough to draw blood from her palm.

Quickly she began murmuring under her breath, gathering shadows in an all or nothing attack. If she truly went through with this he wasn't sure wether or not he would be able to comply with his bearer's wishes.

"Don't make me kill thee woman."

She cackled in response, black energy sparking and crackling around. "I'd like to see you try little black bird."

The magic snarled and whipped around her, all consuming and dangerous as flared and hungry eyes settled on those it had been told was called 'enemy'.

Her eyes were white as she surrendered sight to them. Yami flinched back, this wasn't good. The sheer vastness of shadows she was calling, there was no way her body could sustain them, no way she'd be able to control them.

"Stop this!" He roared, raising a wing to quickly defend as a tentacle of darkness lashed at him. "Thou art insane!"

"No." she murmured, gazing at him with unholy eyes, the air around her sparking. "This is _true sanity_."

Her voice was sick joy, and while Yami didn't flinch it sent a chill down his spine. This much uncontrolled darkness. The shadows sung in terrible joy, spiralling and lashing.

She screeched leaping forward in attack, shadows forming pikes before her. There was no way he'd be able to block that with a simple wing. He leapt, wings flaring as he took flight out of range of the attack, dodging quickly as shadows whipped towards him, changing direction as they pushed her from the ground in a mockery of flight.

Yami cursed something under his breath, the shadows growing heavier, the lines on his torso darker. Black leapt towards him, missing him by a hairs breath as he dropped his height slightly, keen eyes following the shadows path as more struck towards him.

He dodged again hearing the crashing of glass exploding behind him.

Her shadows were stronger now she'd given herself to them, and he couldn't dodge forever. No, he had attack.

He dropped low again, before pushing backwards with wing and shadow magic, soaring towards the crazed woman, eyes as dark as the abyss from which darkness was born.

Shadow magic prickled over his senses, sparking his skin as he flew at her. Her magic tried to lash, but it managed only a few weak blows, nothing powerful enough to stop him, deflect him, or change his path as he flew straight for her. His lips parted in a vicious smile. Yes, she was helpless.

'_Don't kill!'_

He drew his arm back, crying out in nearly malicious exultation, muscle and shadow rippling, tensing to strike. One blow was all it would take.

He struck.

Her dark shadows clung to him, trying to pull him away as the shadow encasing his hand remained lodged in her pale flesh, easily having parted the skin. He invaded her, his darkness streaming through her body, poisoning her as the talon he had formed from the darkness excreted the venom to her body.

'_Y-Yami._'

'_Fear not. She lives.'_

He drew in a long breath, the shadows which had previous been called to her, wildly screeching in uncontrolled madness. He grabbed them, pulled them back to himself. His iron will forcing. _Obey_.

They lashed wildly, wounding him shallowly in a few places, but soon he had them conquered, obedient as the rest of his shadows were. They soon recognised him, slipped into his awareness and cooed into his mind their delight at the new sensation of fresh blood welling from their enemies wound. A wound their brethren had caused. They shivered in delight.

He withdrew his claw, the shadows withdrawing back into the marks of the tattoo. The woman slumped, eyes wide and unseeing, saliva slipping from the corner of her mouth as is gaped open in a silent scream. The poison in his shadows would render her incapable of massing the dark to her cause ever again. She was trapped in a shaft of light, as weak and pitiful as a newborn kitten. She had relied too much on the shadows as her strength, and now without them her body had none.

He smirked in victory. No one threatened his bearer, it was only a shame that it was wished for her to live.

'_Bearer. What wouldst thou have me do with this one?'_ He queried, gazing her over with contempt.

'_Police._'

He grunted. That was two blocks from here from what his bearer mind provided him. Sighing he gripped tighter the limp body of the woman, her body light and frail. Pitiful.

Satisfied that there was no longer any shadows in the area, that he had managed to reign in the those shadows of hers that she had called, he left, the only signs of the battle left behind was the shattered glass and black score marks on the concrete roof top

* * *

Yuugi had a problem.

This problem wasn't the glaring red light of his alarm clock, nor was it the incessant chirping of a family of birds outside his window, who had nothing better to do with their lives than squawk about absolutely nothing. It wasn't even the fact that there were still marks covering his body, and one or two small cuts on his back and chest.

It was the fact that Yami had co-operated with him.

This wasn't so much a problem as a dilemma. What was he going to do now? Yami had actually _listened_ to him, hadn't killed the woman as he would've. He didn't completely disfigure her with a brutal beating, beat her to the point of disarmament, but she was still entirely recognisable. He had been somewhat merciful instead of insanely violent.

This changed everything.

Could he begin to trust Yami now? Could he even begin to hope that one day they would trust each other? Or was this a ploy? Behaving so that he would drop his guard and Yami would have a chance to do something truly wicked, something like permanent control.

He shook his head. No. That was too terrible to even think about at this point. He fisted his hands in his sheets. Things didn't make as much sense now. Yami had listened; had paid heed to his appeal to spare her. He seemed to want to appease him, but…

He closed his eyes, suddenly tired. But why would he when he already had control?

Last night… when Yami had fought that vicious woman, he'd felt more. He'd been able to feel the ghost of wind across his face, he'd felt Yami's exhalation, the adrenaline in his body as he made that final and critical strike. He could feel strongly the echo's of his bodies movements. The tightening of his muscles as they sprung to attack, how good it felt when the shadow magic seared through his body and formed that wicked talon. He didn't feel the blows as they landed; he felt a slight echo, but no pain, as though he was sheltered from that. He could hear the complexities of his other thoughts. Nothing exact, he couldn't quite focus on them, couldn't quite hear them clearly. They flittered anxiously with strategy, small commands, thoughts, spying weakness, analysing the best way to attack, he felt the brush of his heart thudding in excitement.

But before that, he'd felt a quiet peace radiating from him. A simple joy as the night air brushed over him. Yami had relished in it. Something so simple. He'd been peacefully happy. While he was fighting he was viciously happy, but prior to that there was a peacefulness to him, a serenity to his mind as he enjoyed just being there.

He sighed. He wanted to speak to someone about it, but who would understand? Who would be able to say, 'Yuugi, I've been through the same thing.' and then provide him all the answers?

He didn't want to worry his grandfather, who already had to worry about so much as it was. He didn't want to worry Jounouchi who already worried enough about him, and would only worry more now that he was over in Tokyo with Mai. He could pose it to Ryou and Anzu as a hypothetical where it was a separate living entity he was having this problem with, but Ryou would probably become suspicious of him, and Anzu…Anzu could take it as meaning them if he said it wrong, or worry about him. No one really ever took a hypothetical question as not relating to a problem the person asking the hypothetical was having.

Why wasn't there just an answer? It wasn't fair for there to be just questions.

Slowly the light faded from his room, the sunset a splash of angry red as the night fought the day, and it was the night who won and Yuugi quickly fell into an uneasy sleep.

When he woke, it was in a cold sweat, trembling as liquid fear leaked from his pores. His eyes were wide with imagined horror. In a terrible sensation he realised he was sitting upright in his bed. It had felt as though he'd been upright all along and had suddenly been flung back against his sheets only to bounce up again.

He was lurched forwards, shaky hands gripping the sheets, feet tangled in a snarled mess at the bottom. His hair was a disarrayed mess, his lone blonde forelock, irritably close to his eyes, the rest of his bangs concealing his face. His heart pulsed like the bass speakers of a night club, loud and all consuming. A chilling spider's web lay across his frazzled nerves, tickling at the hairs on his arms as they prickled in the cold outside his bed sheets.

But as he calmed, something caught his eye. At the foot of his bed, staring out the window. The figure looked just like him, except for minor fact that he was littered with tattoo's. They curled around a bicep, and swung dangerously down to his hips. They twitched nervously around his fingers, and curled wickedly at his wrist. They were mesmerising and dark, standing stark against pale skin as it shone from the moon light. Each graceful sweep ended in a wicked point. His hair was black as the night sky, but flashed with blonde highlights as they flung back in jagged groups into his hair.

He was perched on the end of his bed, one knee drawn up for an arm to rest against, as the other propped his torso from the back. Yuugi's mouth felt painfully dry, his breath froze and he stared, nightmare forgotten. Was this…

"Yami?"

The figured turned his head, inclining it slightly as he look at him in one deeply powerful gaze. Eyes a startling garnet.

"Ah, bearer." Said a voice that Yuugi had only ever heard in his mind, smooth and pleasant, though he had a feeling that he had… heard it this way once before. "I see thou hath roused thyself from thine nightmare at last." He commented lightly.

Yuugi merely stared. Yami's face was solid and angular. It curved smoothly but sharply. His accent sounded strange now he actually heard it with his ears; it was similar to his own but tinged with something else.

Yami smirked, catching his stare, and turning his face back to the window, while Yuugi continued to stare openly at the being at the foot of his bed.

* * *

Heya, I know the fght scene was really lame. I hope you'll forgive me... or at least reiview to tell me how much it sucked. don't forget the feed the author. 


	4. Ch3 Much Ado About Nothingness

**Title:** The Black Tattoo  
**Author:** SilverWing147  
**Part:** 3/?  
**Rating:** Yet to be classified  
**Warning:** AU, BL  
**Pairing:** eventual YYxY, YxA, other pairings yet to be realised.  
**Summary:** He didn't know when it came, or where from, but he'd been cursed with a mark on his back. A tattoo of a pyramid with an Egyptian eye, a black tattoo. What some people call a hero, and others a menace, emerges under the name of The Black Raven, and Yuugi's life has never been more complicated.

A/N: Now for some odd reason, a part of the previous chapter was missing but yer, that was kinda weird, I just think doesn't like me or something. Maybe it wasn't even the previous chapter, I dunno, I don't re-read it once it gets on just to check, but if it's inaccurate, check out LiveJournal for more accurate retelling.

I'm sorry for the delay, lost my job, had to re-write some stuff, really just not been in the mood. Please forgive me. This is un-beta'd and for some odd reason, OpenOffice doesn't want to do spell check, so beware that too.

Anyway, moving on!

* * *

**Chapter Three - Much Ado about Nothingness.**"Earth to Yuugi, come in Yuug'." Jounouchi called, somewhat bemusedly but a little agitated that his friend had invited him out for coffee and was now ignoring him in favour of staring at some indiscernible point with a completely and utterly blank expression on his face. 

It was a little strange, and a little irritating.

This thought also crossed Yuugi's mind as his friend waved a hand before his eyes, snapping him quickly back to reality. Not so much that Jounouchi was staring into space but rather about the hand. Having a hand waving in front of your face tended to have that effect.

"So what are you breaking that _genius_ mind of yours over now Yuug'?" He teased lightly.

Yuugi didn't even rise to it.

"Oh, nothing. Sorry Jounouchi." Yuugi replied sheepishly, a light blush dusting his cheeks.

Needless to say, Jounouchi wasn't convinced. "Nothing?"

"Nothing."

"Not a thing?"

"Nope."

"Liar." He said bluntly.

"No, no Jounouchi." Yuugi said quickly. "It really is nothing. Nothing notable."

Now, he wasn't always able to read Yuugi at times, but the way his bottom lip looked slightly gnawed at, and that slight tint to his eyes that tended to give him away, was easy to find to expose the lie. Yuugi's hands shuffled nervously with a salt shaker as well; dancing it across the table between his two hands. Yes… definitely a 'Yuugi is lying about something that is bothering him' sign.

"Tell me." He demanded.

"What?" Trying to play innocent.

"Tell me about this nothing that you're thinking about." He explained.

"It's…" Yuugi looked away to the side, avoiding Jounouchi's eyes. "You're going to think I'm mad or something." Yuugi's face tinged with a slightly extra amount of rosiness.

"Yuug'." He replied, affronted. "Would _I_ ever call you mad?"

"Yes." Yuugi replied bluntly, completely straight faced. "You've done it lots of times. Like when I agreed to help Grandpa do inventory of the stuff in the basement, or the time when I asked Onorei Yuri to lend me her pencil for a second, _or_ the time when -"

"-Yeah yeah, get yer point. But seriously. When have I ever called you mad and actually _meant it_?" He asked sincerely.

Yuugi sighed, he knew that there wasn't a time when Jounouchi had called him insane or mad and truly meant it, but… he… did he really want… could he really explain to him that the conscious and supposed separate entity of the black tattoo, the personality he became when the tattoo was active, was talking to him? That last night he'd woken from the most terrible nightmare he'd ever had, to find the other sitting at the edge of his bed just gazing up at the moon through his skylight window?

They hadn't spoken very much at all, the other more than content to just sit in silence and watch the moon while Yuugi openly gaped at him. When Yuugi had finally managed to perk up the courage to speak to him, his questions hadn't been definitive to the realationship. Only small matters, like who he was, what he was doing, and why he was doing it. None of the answers had been very conclusive.

"Yuug'? You're zoning again." Jounouchi pointed out, once more breaking him from his trance.

"Sorry." He murmured.

"Look there's obviously something going on. So come on, share."

"I… I don't." He murmured. "I don't want to burden you with my problems Jounouchi."

"Look Yuug' I'm not askin' I'm tellin'. Burden me." He said kindly, coaxing his friend.

Normally Yuugi would decline, but that itch, that tug to tell someone, his defence against it was pushed with his friends insistence. He needed to ask for help. Needed someone to give him an answer, or at least pretend that by talking about it he could get one. "The… a thing that's… it's… well. It's just that… and I, gah! It's hard to explain." Yuugi said frustratedly.

Jounouchi leaned back a little, putting his hands up. "Take your time. Just start from the start."

"Okay." Yuugi exhaled, preparing himself. And in the next breath he explained it as best he could. Explained the separate entity that called itself Yami. Explained the crazy lady they fought, the agreement that he and his other had come to. How they would now have to work together. That he was conscious for it more or less. And finally, told him of the night before. "-He didn't say a lot. Just simple answers."

"So let me get this straight… you talked, to Yami no Yuugi who is an actually separate thing from you?" Jounouchi asked, dumbfounded by this new revelation.

"Yes." Yuugi said simply, nodding his head once to emphasis it. "But now I'm not sure what to do! I mean he's being civil, nice even, and he's never really hurt me, and he tells me that he won't hurt me or anything like that, and he actually _listened_ to me during that fight, so I'm not sure if I should start trying to trust him, or just completely throw out that idea because it's stupid, and obviously a ploy to get me to trust him so he can take over my body full time or or do something really bad or something!"

Jounouchi nodded, taking it all in. As crazy as it seemed he had a point there. Yuugi's hands had stopped their nervous motions and lay lat against the table, stark energy consuming truth. He hummed, thinking quality as Yuugi waited for a reply to his outburst.

"Be careful."

Yuugi grew ridged fighting the urge to anime style face plummet to the ground. That was it? _Be careful_? What kind of advice was that! Catching his widened stare, Jounouchi continued.

"I wouldn't trust this guy just yet or on second thoughts, don't trust him at all 'cause he's obviously a deranged psycho or something. Maybe, you'll just have to wait and see Yuugi, until we can find a way to get that tattoo of ya back eh?" He said, mentally wincing at his very unhelpful words. Wait and see.

Yuugi smiled. "Yeah."

He faked his hope for the time when the tattoo would be removed. He was often optimistic, but this time his heart wasn't in it, shadowed over by the ferocity of the darkness that clung to his skin when the tattoo was activated. He knew it had him, and it was never going to be removed, this was the reality of his life, as harsh and glaring as a bare 100 watt globe. This was it, but turning off the light was far more frightening than any other prospect. "Until we find a way to get it off."

"You ever going to tell Anzu?" He asked, almost offhandedly.

Yuugi shook his head. "Not unless I have to."

* * *

Speaking with Jounouchi had been helpful in getting all this excess weight from his chest, that aching, quivering, pressure, that desire to tell _someone_ that the world was spinning and he'd just noticed how fast. 

So now… now he wasn't sure what to do.

"…And Mrs Irutsuka thinks that I'll do really well, so I was thinking of auditioning."

But listening to Anzu talking about her future dancing aspirations worked as a helpful distraction to all that. He always tried his best to remain attentive to her, especially considering how much he hid from her.

"So what do you think?"

He smiled, as bright and encouraging as his facial features and heart could ask him to be. "I think you'd be great!" He said with enthusiasm. "You'd be the star of the show!"

She flushed gracefully, smiling at him, her grip on his hand tightening slightly. His mind sung praise. Right answer.

"So what have you been doing these past few days? I haven't seen you in the shop whenever I'm driving past." She asked, tilting her head inquisitively, her auburn her swaying, sliding lightly across the gentle slip of her shoulder. It was a little longer than when they'd first started dating, but he liked it. Soon she'd start complaining that she needed a hair cut, and then they'd talk about his hair, and how when it was wet it almost looked completely straight; although it did take a lot of water to get it to lie down. That, a comb, and a vast quantity of gel. Though lately there hadn't been any talk of his abnormal hair style, not since his decline to stay with her, maybe it was a sign that something was wrong. Maybe she'd just given up on the idea of taming his hair.

He chuckled nervously. "Oh, I'm more of a behind the scenes worker." He smiled. "Grandpa tends the shop while I lift and move stock and things around, I wouldn't want him to hurt his back." _'As well as that I can do it whenever I want, think at the same time, and it's easy to catch up when I'm… unable to work for a few days.'_

"Are you ever going to get a job Yuugi?"

He squawked indignantly. "Working at the game shop is a job! I'm learning the family business!" He cried, putting a hand to his hip and playfully narrowing his eyes at her in a mock repremand.

She smiled. He always could make her smile, just with his antics at times, antics that were not exactly childish, but relatively close. They were just so lively, bright and colourful like the pages of a children's book. Happy and carefree to the point of seeming naive, though… she knew that he was deeper than that, more mature. Older. Sometimes years too old for that energetic smile.

"Whatever you say Yuugi." She said.

"It is!" He argued.

She laughed, he sighed, and they kept on walking. They were doing a clichéd walk through the park, hands clasped, eyes wandering and souls at ease with each other. Just as they always did when Yuugi was restless and Anzu too excited.

They never sat at a park bench, or beneath a tree. They never lazed on the grass and watched children kick and scream and play and laugh and fall down. They just walked, hands clasped, the corners of their lips slightly upturned, eyes focused forward, talking.

But Anzu frowned slightly. She'd noticed something strange about her boyfriend today. She knew there was something bothering him. Something that was important. But there had been something for a while. There was often things on his mind recently, something distracting and bothering him. Things had changed just after she'd asked him to consider them moving in together. The decline still stung her, but… the answer she got was so… so _Yuugi_, that she couldn't find it in herself to hate him for it.

The explanation he'd given was that he worried about his grandfather living alone, and that he himself wasn't ready for something like that. It didn't mean that he loved her any less than he'd ever claimed or ever behaved; just that he wasn't quite ready for that kind of a commitment, and his grandfather might come to need him more now that he was becoming more and more aged.

But they all were. They were all growing up, the exceptioning factor being that Yuugi still had many of the traits he'd had when he was younger, looks and smile aside, especially the one of keeping problems and worries to himself.

"Yuugi?" She broke the silence, voice soft and inquisitive.

"Mm?" Yuugi replied, inclining his head in her direction and glancing towards her from the corner of is eye, catching that serious and gentle note in her voice.

"Is there… something going on that's bothering you?"

His hand twitched in hers instinctively. Flinching away from the question, about being found out so easily. Talking to Jounouchi hadn't eased his mind a great deal.

"No. I'm fine. Just a-"

"Don't, don't say that." His footstep paused briefly and he glanced at her for the interruption, sensing some distress, feeling it in her gently tightening hand, hearing it in the slight raise of pitch to her voice.

"Say what?"

"That excuse, Yuugi." She said, voice to the point of almost sounding aggravated.

Yuugi remained silent.

She continued speaking.

"It's always, 'I'm fine. Just a little tired.' or some other excuse just like it. You're always tired lately Yuugi! Always fine! You know I don't believe you but you lie anyway." She said, eyes bright in a way they only ever became when she was passionately objecting to something. Anzu was one of the few people he knew that really did shine with passion when arguing or declaring something. She lit up, everything about her became more vivid.

He cringed away from the sharp bite of those words. He didn't _enjoy _lying to Anzu, and some part of him recognised that she didn't always believe his excuses, but he blessed that she at least pretended to. He didn't think he could handle anymore than that.

She was smashing that taboo. The precious taboo that dictated that she never questioned what he wouldn't answer.

"I mean, I'm your girlfriend, one of the very last people you should lie to, and yet you always do. I'm the one you should be able to confide in, but you don't. You lie to me, telling me that everything's fine and great and you're fine and great, but it's not Yuugi... _you're_ not." Her voice quietened, a slight tremor was detectable, but barely audible in her strong voice. He realised they'd stopped walking and her eyes wouldn't meet his. "I _want_ to be the one you can confide in. I _want_ you to be able to depend on me to help you; I _want_ to help you; I _want_ to be there for you; but I _can't_ while you won't let me! Don't you trust me to be able to help you in some way? Don't you trust me to just be there?!"

He couldn't say anything. What would be adequate? Nothing could explain the tumultuous experience his life had been since that night that the tattoo had activated. How could he tell her that he was housing a murderous intent and shadows that hid light from the world?

"I've… I want to be there, when you need a hand. Yuugi," she turned, staring at him with intense and pleading eyes. "Tell me what's wrong!"

She watched with severe, penetrating, attention as Yuugi's eyes turned away. His hand loosened in hers a little, and he shifted lightly on his feet. He sighed, eyes staring far away from hers, his body language defeated as he turned back to face her, eyes still not meeting hers for an instant.

"Nothing. I'm fine."

* * *

It was quiet a few moments ago, but now his ears were filled with a steady pounding. His bearer's heart was beating as though it had leapt into his throat, his thoughts crowded and squealing like an excited mob. 

_Conflict_.

Yami stretched languidly in the softness of the grey around him, hair cushioning his head on the ground, arms splayed on either side of himself as he stared into the blackness above him. It might've been a sky, or a wall, gravity had no mind here so he was unsure as to wether he was on the ceiling, floor, or wall of his container. Not that it mattered, once he occupied one, it instantly became his floor.

Distracting whispers of conversation floated into his containment from the mind of his bearer. It wasn't an argument he was having, but a conversation with heavy implication, heavy costs, and the power to become an argument if he ever voiced anything back in retaliation.

He didn't. He resigned himself to death and listened, hearing the distress of his girlfriend, and knowing that the truth would heal wounds but cause more problems. So he swallowed his own desires, and kept the secrets to himself. This made Yami smile.

He loved it when his host got worked up; when his emotion peaked, either with joy or conflict, sorrow, excitement, anything more than the usual level emotion; because he could hear it. He could feel it hum in the air around him. His thoughts became louder to get over the beating of his heart, and he could hear him. It quietened the pain of what seemed to be eternal solitude, soothing him like a cool lotion spread over his skin. Things became softer, calmer, easier; instead of the normal harsh, dry and unforgiving sensations he was used to. Though he much prefered the softness to the previous norm.

His eyes were slitted, still open though there was nothing worth seeing, lazily listening to the whispers of his other. He felt the weight his other felt, and was tempted to coo sympathy to him, but as it would only be taken as patronising or an attempt to create a false trust, he didn't. He stayed reclined in the dark, still and silent.

Since the defeat of the shadow mage, he'd felt better. He'd finally faced someone with shadows at their call, someone who offered the challenge of managing his own shadows, so that he wouldn't be defeated by theirs. Not that managing them was difficult.

He sighed breathlessly. Hundreds of years in the darkness, and the shadows had adopted him; seeped into his soul as blood seeps into a carpet. They considered him kin, a brother, a son, a father. He had given them all the experiences of his life before now, every emotion, every touch, every soft memory, every ugly one. They hade relished in the human experience, taken it gladly away from him, and took more and more of him as the time passed. He couldn't find it in him to care as he lost his name and everything he was, lost time and identity, the shadows were thankful which made them easier to deal with. They purred around him like temperate kittens, licking, kneading, and sometimes clawing. They could be cruel and punish their child, they could be warm and clasp hands with their brother, or they could be obedient and listen to their father.

His bearer was just the same. Yuugi had listened, ordered, cowered and asserted authority. He for his part was the same. Despite reassuring the boy, Yuugi still doubted him. It had been troubling his young mind, a mind that had become more troubled to find him sitting at the end of his bed, watching the moon. But it mattered not. Yuugi would eventually make up his mind, and if it wasn't in his favour he'd do his best to change it. He couldn't stand another hundred or so years in solitude, and Yuugi's light was so bright and warm and _perfect_.

It just _gave_ all the time; creating all these small joys for him to savour. He could see now. His container was grey and not black, soft not hard, warm not cold. He could hear another's heartbeat, and when the tattoo was activated and Yuugi lost control, the _sensation_ was incredible. To feel again. To be able to enjoy the caress of cold air and changing winds, so glorious and real. To be needed. To have purpose. To properly commence his penance.

'_But Grandpa, you don't understand…'_

Yami's ears pricked. He loved it when Yuugi couldn't tell he was broadcasting his thoughts. He hadn't learnt to control his mind so he couldn't talk to him at will, but by accident, or when Yami cared enough to pay attention.

It seemed that Yuugi had moved from speaking to Anzu, to asking his grandfather for advice concerning the matter. His bearer often asked the elder for advice on his girlfriend and how to deal with withholding information as big as the tattoo from her.

'…_I can't… I can't promise anyone anything. I'll only disappoint them…what can I do?'_

He hummed carefully to himself, listening to Yuugi's thoughts. His voice was soft and of fine quality, burning his ears with the sound of it. Sound. Something else he had Yuugi to thank for. Thank his bearer for his light creating sound in his chaotic world.

He enjoyed the gentle press of Yuugi's consciousness against the walls of his container. Enjoyed the stillness of his mind when he slept, but the nightmares unnerved him. The dark grew, flaring and dimming the grey. His container became harder, colder, unforgiving again as his bearers mind cried in fear from what it was creating. His heart pounded so loudly it was nearly deafening, and a gentle dampness swept in with the salty breeze of tears and sweat. Yami could barely stand it. This was what his container felt like when Yuugi became scared, threatened, afraid or sad, and he could do nothing. He couldn't wake him, couldn't enter the dream and fight, he couldn't do anything but push, and squirm and fight to escape the container.

It both frightened and bothered him. He could not help his bearer at that time, could not help himself if only in escaping his container. The riotous state of his container as it became an abrasive prison reminding him of something he wasn't quite sure he could remember, but it brought fear to his heart like only a phobia could. So he waited outside of it, heart still pounding, but safe. His nerves were unsteady and mind disquieted by the fact he could not help his bearer, but it was better than being within him while the nightmare happened. It was only recently they had become this bad, usually Yuugi was not in a large enough state of fear to wake himself up, or he was sleeping in the day and Yami was unable to come out without risking exposure.

But for the time being, all was well. His bearer wasn't exactly happy at though moment, although he stirred with this conflict, there was no depression. He was well.

'_I'm dead. Grim Reaper take me now.'_

Yami smiled. Yuugi was just so full of life.

* * *

"Art thou not going to askest my advice?" 

Yuugi grunted, rolling onto his back focusing on the figure standing in the centre of his room, eyes slightly narrowed with amusement. Yuugi's eyes narrowed in return, though not with amusement. He rose to his feet, standing opposite his possessor.

"No."

Yami's lips turned up at their corners, amused at his bearer's blunt dismissal.

"Thou art hurting my heart with such cruelness." Yami said in mock sorrow.

He was not amused as he may have been with someone else, though it nearly threatened him. He couldn't find himself to be relaxed enough to find amusement in Yami's joking. He was dark, all of Yuugi's senses told him so, and thus he couldn't relax.

"What do you want?" He asked, blunt once again.

Yami glanced away, offhandedly answering. "I was offering assistance to my bearer. But thou dost not wish it. Instead I make a suggestion for thine bright mind to consider. The lady shadow mage _we_ faced was a small fish in a bigger pond. The owner of that pond still waits while small fish squabble for offerings. If thou dost wish to continue pursuing these light eaters, I will be thy fisherman and bring these small fish to the shore to find their owner. All thou need do is askest of me, and I will act in thy wishes.

He bit his lip. Yami was right – and the emphasised 'we' hadn't escaped his attention either - that lady had mentioned about bringing him back to a house. There were implications, suggestions, that she worked for someone, and that someone was still out there, still gathering light from people. Kidnapping. It was plausible that those missing people weren't just the work of that one lady but two or three.

But that would mean becoming a subservant to Yami at his own will. That would mean giving up control, of his own will. Was that _letting_ the shadows win? Giving them power over him.

He looked over to Yami, who was gazing out the window, but he must've felt eyes on him and turned back to face him, eyes a deadly glowing red, smooth lips upturned so slightly he could barely notice it. Yami took a step forward, and Yuugi's body tensed instinctively.

Yami smirked sinfully slowly. "The choice is in thy keep, I will not act unless thou dost desire me to."

He grimaced. "How can I trust you?"

"Have I ever given thou a reason not to?" Yami retaliated, taking another step closer. His hand twitched, his heart beat growing slightly harder as Yami drew closer to him. Having him sitting on the end of his bed was one thing, having him standing and advancing with deliberate steps was quite another.

Yami smiled, leaning in and whispering in his ear, without breath. "I leave thou to consider, my offer."

And with that he vanished before his eyes, a whisper of vapour clinging to his skin briefly before settling within him once again. Yuugi instinctively raised a hand to his chest, kneading it slightly, as though he could reach that ache in his heart and soothe it, but eventually faded as his body readjusted to Yami's presence within him, but he still felt as though his heart beat was echoing. Now he was more aware of him, he could feel him inside the cavity of his chest, and a gentle nudge in his mind.

He sighed, it was strange when Yami left his body and then returned. He felt better now, and that knowledge only hurt more.

'_I offer my advice for thy lady trouble regardless. She shouldn't question what she doth not deserveth_.'

Yuugi grimaced. Yami had it wrong. Anzu deserved truth, and he couldn't give it to her. Anzu deserved so much more than he could give, than he could be. Yami was wrong, he was the undeserving one. He had to try and give her compensation. He had to try make this work because he was the one lacking, he had to make it up to her.

He couldn't offer her an answer, he couldn't offer her anything more than he was giving her, but maybe just something to show he was trying, show he cared. Maybe that was the answer. Maybe he could make it up to her some how. Go out and get her something, apologise for his dishonesty. Yes… that was it.

He could fix it.

* * *

Ryou had recommended that he go visit Bakura, he'd be able to get him the perfect gift for his girlfriend. So it was with slight trepidation that he opened up the door to "Dave's Pawn Shop" and stepped inside. Bakura wouldn't hurt him or anything, if only because Ryou would never forgive him, but he did make his already stiff hair stand on end. 

Deep down Bakura was a nice enough kind of guy, or he was to Ryou who managed to get that far down, to the rest of the population he was a menace. As Ryou's friend Yuugi wasn't at risk of being robbed or anything, Bakura was even tolerant of him (and that could possibly be because at times he reminded him of his Ryou), wether or not he'd help without Ryou standing next to him to help him convince Bakura, was another matter; but he was willing to give it an attempt.

"Hello Bakura-san." He greeted spotting the other behind the counter.

His white hair was just touching the countertop as he rested his head on his hands, eyes barely open and a bored expression on his sharp features. Bakura's face was filled with sharp characteristics, at some point in their high school years someone had accused him of filing his canines into the fangs they appeared to be. They weren't fangs exactly, but they certainly appeared sharper than you'd regularly find on a person. His eyes were a deep dark brown, with a frightening depth to them and a malicious spark that was often put to good use in enhancing his glare. Though at the moment he looked bored to death, the glare gone from his eyes, dulled with the tediousness of sitting behind a counter with nothing to do.

"Yo dwarf. What do you want?" He drawled.

Yuugi smiled, hiding his nerves as he came up to the counter. "I was just looking at getting Anzu a gift and Ryou told me I should come and see you, so here I am."

Bakura raised an eyebrow still bored. "Indeed?" He yawned, sitting up straighter and stretching his back. "Well I suppose this is something to do, it's so damn boring on a Tuesday." He groaned. "No one ever selling or buying."

"Mm, it's the same at the game shop." Yuugi replied.

"So what did you want to get?" He said, eyes still not completely open.

"Uh… I dunno." Yuugi scratched the back of his head nervously.

"You're fuckin' hopeless Yuugi." He observed. Yuugi just smiled sheepishly at Bakura as he sighed rolling his eyes and sliding off his stool.

He walked over to a shelf on his left, eyeing over a couple of things before selecting one and slinking his way back to the counter.

"Here." He said tossing over a necklace to the other, sighing as Yuugi fumbled it slightly before managing to hold it securely in his midget hands.

Yuugi clasped the chain letting it hang from his hand as he admired the pendant attached. The chain was light weight silver, and the centrepiece consisted of a glass tear drop, wire coiled around it, precious and glittering silver. It was simple, and beautiful, he could definitely see it as something Anzu would wear.

"Wow Bakura-san, it's… it's gorgeous!" He murmured, beyond the necklace to Bakura who was smirking in satisfaction.

"Yup. Now pay up." Bakura said, holding out his hand expectantly. Yuugi rummaged in his pockets, pulling out the required money, surprised when he still had notes in his hands after Bakura collected his money. He was about to comment when Bakura shot him a look and he just took the gift silently.

He turned to leave, the present for his girlfriend resting in his pocket, he looked over his shoulder to thank Bakura now he was closer to the door and able to make a clean get away, but he noticed a distant look on the others features. Puzzled he began to turn around, but paused when Bakura suddenly sneezed violently and then told him very politely to "get the fuck outta my store" something which Yuugi did.

It was best to just take things from Bakura in silence.

* * *

He was dozing when he felt it. It brushed against him lightly at first but with more urgency and energy with its second passing. He reluctantly opened his eyes to the grey, hearing a heart pounding, but it wasn't fear or at least the usual kind. To be more exact the air wasn't drenched with the fear that usually called for his summoning. No, it was his bearer's conscious brushing him. It was nudging him, trying, begging, and insistently calling for his attention. 

Yuugi wasn't used to trying to communicate with him when he hadn't already established a connection. He reached out lazily.

"Bearer?"

Yuugi's voice echoed around him, panicked and pleading. "_Yami! Yami you've got to help her!_"

It was that woman, his bearer's girlfriend. She was in danger and Yuugi could see it. Yami groaned, he was being asked to protect her, when she was an obstacle to him, a source of jealousy. But his bearer was asking, imploring him to help, he couldn't deny such a heartfelt request from the one who was housing him. Whom he owed so much more than his life to.

"_Yami! Yami _please_. I… I can't…"_

He sighed, tensing his spiritual body, gathering energy to take over and activate the tattoo on his own. If he didn't no doubt his bearer would rush to defend her and get injured, so either way he'd be called, but this way Yuugi got to keep his secret intact. The secret that was gnawing at their relationship.

He grimaced; oh, his not-life was grand.

He murmured as the tattoo responded to him, and his container opened for him to be released, the body needed him to control the shadows.

Yuugi had already removed his jacket so that he'd have something to cover the marks on his way home, but his shirt hadn't been saved in the rush. It disintegrated against the tattoo until it was scraps at his feet, his wings flexing as he shot forward.

Anzu had been cornered in an alleyway by some thugs trying to take her bag from her, and from the looks it, trying to get something else as well. Their hands pushed at her body, they jeered, mocked as only a group of lust filled men could.

"Come on girl, give us a kiss!" One laughed.

He clucked lightly. Four men versus one woman. Prideless, honourless scum.

'_Don't kill them.'_

Yami shook his head even as he advanced on them. They were attempting to rob and violate his girlfriend and still Yuugi wanted them to live on. But he would obey.

He didn't warn them just grabbed them, threw them, cursed them. They swore and yelped as they were flung back into the walls, he didn't watch for what Anzu did, focused on his opponents no matter how pitiful, trusting she would flee as any sensible woman would.

They rose to their feet, grabbing anything they could use a weapon. Three of them grabbed chains. Yami smirked wickedly, feeling the shadows rush to him. Those sad little miscreants would rue this day. He soared forward, hardly using the shadows to enhance his movement, relying mostly on his bearers body and the thrust of his wings, he wanted to really feel this, wanted his bearer to feel it as well.

He landed the first punch, easily ducking away from the swing of chains, darting in and uppercutting the first thug of four, hearing a satisfying crunch and gasp of pain. His hand hurt slightly from the blow but it was easy to dismiss as he landed another punch to the thugs stomach, swinging to kick him aside.

The others stepped up and were as easily defeatable as the first. He smirked at them, using the chains that they had used as weapons to tie them together, gripping them and tossing the out of the alleyway. That had required shadow power, his bearers body far too weak to lift four grown men.

"Hey!" A voice called from the other end of the alleyway. Suddenly men were pouring out of the entrance to what had obviously been a gang lair. And it looked like he'd just beaten up some of its members. He grinned, '_Oh Yes'_ he'd have a chance to flex his shadows without killing any of these idiots merely due to the number of them. He began drawing the shadows close, feeling their chill against his skin, even as the tattoo marks warmed. His heart thudded slightly faster, body singing, and this was only the start.

"B-Black Raven." He swivelled. Gods his bearer's girlfriend was _stupid_. Why hadn't she ran, damnit!

"Run!" He demanded.

She stared in horror as the gang members charged towards them, not moving an inch. Muttering under breath he darted forward, gripping her by her arm and launching skywards. She screamed, her other hand rising to grip his arm painfully. He could have grabbed her around her waist, secure and easy, but he'd rather not; so he'd opted to raising her by one arm.

He smirked a little to himself, feeling his bearer sputtering and frowning at his amusement in the girl dangling bellow him. To appease his host he glanced down at her and then used both hands to hold both of her arms, to ease the strain on the one arm he had grabbed.

"Hold on." He said over the rush of air. He felt her grip tighten and he glanced over his shoulder back at the alleyway full of thugs. He could have defeated them all, flexed his magic, made it feel useful so they didn't grow so restless with disuse, the shadows would have been pleased with the opportunity to play, but no. He had to save the girl.

He took the long way back to the alleyway to retrieve Yuugi's jacket to avoid being spotted, followed and found out. Although taking the long way back had cost him more time he hadn't been slow about it, and so was somewhat disappointed to find the gang had gone, and the thugs he'd beat retreated as well.

He landed lightly on the ground, sighing with the quiet thud of his boots hitting pavement. He cast his eyes around the alley way, darting from dark corner to dark corner before he spotted his bearers prized jacket. He advanced on it, kneeling down to pick it up, feeling the fabric shift in his grip. Rising back to his full height and withdrawing his wings, he slipped it on feeling the fabric slide along his skin before settling. It gave off a faint aroma that he quickly dedicated to memory as he began gently handing the control back to his host, shadows withdrawing from his body. He felt a quiet grateful feeling wash over him, and a softly spoken thank you whisper in his ear during the exchange.

He smiled.

'_Thou art __welcome._'

* * *

Please feed the author? She needs your pity. 


	5. Ch4 Duality

**Title:** The Black Tattoo  
**Author:** SilverWing147  
**Part:** 4/?  
**Rating:** Yet to be classified  
**Warning:** AU, BL  
**Pairing:** eventual YYxY, YxA, other pairings yet to be realised.  
**Summary:** He didn't know when it came, or where from, but he'd been cursed with a mark on his back. A tattoo of a pyramid with an Egyptian eye, a black tattoo. What some people call a hero, and others a menace, emerges under the name of The Black Raven, and Yuugi's life has never been more complicated.

A/N: I have word! Hazzuh! All rejoice because otherwise this would've been one painfully misspelled chapter. Anyway, from this point onwards we begin to pick up pace, just like sonic when he's running. We start off slow, and then the speed begins to grow.

* * *

Chapter 4. Duality 

"Hey Bakura! I'm ho-ome!" Ryou sung out, entering the semi-dark entrance way, light sprawling in from the streetlamps outside.

He sighed wearily, dropping down his shoulder bag filled with random assortment of things he'd collected on his way home from work, onto the kitchen bench. He flicked his keys onto the table, the chink of them as they landed nearly deafening in the silence of his house.

He curiously headed to the lounge room. If Bakura was home and he hadn't answered, then he was in a funk of some kind and would more than likely be seated on the couch, lazily sprawled on it, channel surfing with the sound off and muttering to himself every so often. But when he walked in it was empty. There wasn't a thing disturbed from how he'd left it earlier that afternoon.

Bakura hadn't made any plans that he knew of…sighing he headed to the kitchen, wondering where his lover might have gotten off to. Though he knew better than to seriously consider it, eventually he'd come home, and he'd hear him rant about everything that had happened, or Bakura wouldn't say a word about it. One or the other.

Setting to work pulling out the frying pan, he was just about to start chopping carrots when he heard a thud from upstairs. He looked to the ceiling curiously. Maybe Bakura _was_ home and in more of a funk than usual. Although he was still conscious of what other things it could be. Living with Bakura had made him paranoid about being alone in the house, each bump became loud and dangerous, a threatening thud of boots on the floor an intruder on the prowl.

He didn't call out as he came up the stairs, he knew better than that. He'd rather surprise someone than have them surprise him, even if he had already given away that he was here... Bakura had been teaching him whilst making him paranoid.

He slowly neared his and Bakura's room, approaching the doorway cautiously, nudging it open gently with his toes, his eyes peering through the gap. His hand shook slightly, straining his sight to pierce through the gloom. It seemed darker than usual in there.

Finally his eyes made out a figure, slumped face first on the bed. Their hair was sprawled around them in a shambled mess that undoubtedly belonged to Bakura. He watched the gentle rise and fall of the body, indicating the steady breathing of one of Bakura's deeper slumbers. His shoulders were hunched slightly, causing his shoulder blades to protrude slightly before dipping down into the curve of his back in a graceful sweep. His fingers slightly curled into the fabric of the pillow, legs sprawled.

Bakura didn't usually sleep face down, unless he was exhausted, which meant that waking him would be the worst possible idea imaginable. So with as much grace as he could muster, he stealthily left the nudged-open door, and slipped back downstairs, quietly continuing to chop carrots.

Bakura had been acting strange - meaning, stranger than was usual – lately. It was as though there was something pressing down on him, and he was distracted. The last time he'd seen him like this, he was plotting to steal something of quite a valuable nature. But still… this was different. It didn't mesh with in with his usual behaviour. It was still Bakura, undoubtedly, undeniably, infallibly Bakura, nevertheless there was something different in his gaze, steelier than usual as he'd sit glaring at the TV. His words came out slightly smoother, as though the passage had been smothered in rich rum, giving them a warmer quality. He slunk around the house in a quiet fashion. In his own home Bakura was usually as loud as he wanted to be, but lately the only way he was able to detect him was the rasping of his clothes as he walked. The soft sound of a poison asp slipping sideways in the sand.

He shuddered. No, something was bothering his thief, something that he didn't want to talk about because… he sighed.

The only thing this all pointed to, was that… Bakura was afraid of something. And that something was frightening him to watch his noise in his own home without thinking about it. Something that was frightening him to the point where he couldn't sleep; only resting when he finally collapsed into an exhausted rest. Whatever it was that was scaring him… it frightened Ryou too.

* * *

He trembled very slightly as he sat in the corner of his bed, hardly noticeable really, but no one could blame him for light shake of his muscles. Today had been a bad day for phone calls. He'd talked to Anzu, who despite a few hints and open ended comments, made no mention of the fact that she had recently been rescued by the infamous Black Raven less than three days ago. Maintaining that nothing much had been happening, life was pretty dull at the moment really. She already had another performance lined up for when the current show she was in ended. 

Maybe it was a form of pay back for all the secrets that Yuugi himself kept, but Anzu refused to make any kind of comment on it; which surprised Yuugi. He was sure that she'd painstakingly drag him through the details of their encounter, and how she'd been lifted and flown along the rooftops. But no. Not a word. He'd even left an opportunity for her to confess it when he'd given her the necklace less than two days ago.

This niggled in the back of his mind. She didn't trust him to know? Why would she keep it a secret? There was something not quite right about it. He sighed, running a frustrated hand through his tangled hair, feeling the strands slip easily between his fingers. There had never really been much quite right about their relationship. He questioned his relationship with Anzu, but was determined to keep it.

The other phone call that had made his day complete, was from – surprisingly enough – his mother. She had called, and hammered him with questions. It was the worst call he'd ever received from her. She had pried, wondering what he was doing with his life, where he was going, what he planned. But he had no plans. Survive the curse of the tattoo was as far as what he was planning on doing with his life. But that wasn't a career, that wasn't married to Anzu with children. And why wasn't he taller? His father had been very tall, and if he was going to have Grandpa's hair he should at least get some of his father's height. Mrs Mutou hadn't exactly been short either.

And so she had pointed and pushed at all the deficiencies in his life. Questioning everything and bring each painful scar up to look over with blind eyes. She brought to his attention everything he realised he may not ever have. And it stung and shook him.

He was questioned by his mother about his life, but was determined to fake it. He answered as close to the truth as he could, so he wasn't lying outright. Today hadn't been his day for phone calls. Though he did dearly love his mother, and it was always good to hear from her; it wasn't so good when she started asking questions which became more frequent as he got older.

Turmoil tightened his heart. What should he do? He felt so lost, but he was mostly lost all the time. He grimaced, tightening his hold on a leg, forehead resting on his knees.

He felt Yami stir within him slightly. He'd noticed that he could detect him more than usual recently. Before he'd felt nothing, but now he could sense what Yami was doing. At the moment, when he concentrated he could tell that the supposed malicious spirit was disinterestedly doing nothing but existing comfortably and quietly within him. That was all. He couldn't sense his thoughts, but had a very vague awareness of his feelings. It was oddly comforting at times.

He still found Yami at the end of his bed after a nightmare, but they didn't talk. Yami would look over to him, and smile; as though congratulating him for breaking from the nightmare he was in, reassuring him that the world was still there, and then go back to staring out the window. He would just stare at Yami, and his heart rate would slow back down, and eventually he could sleep again and the dreams wouldn't plague him. It was odd. But staring at Yami helped him break out of the fear of the nightmare, maybe it was that he became curious of what the other was thinking, or why he was out, but that was enough. Perhaps it was simply that the nightmare was nothing but a reflection of reality. Seeing Yami reminded him of his the true reality; the reality that gave him the nightmares.

Easing himself out of the ball he'd hurled himself into, he gently reclined back against the headboard of his bed. One leg eased down, as he began gently unwinding, relaxing. It was easier to see the world this way. He took in a deep breath, letting himself fall still so he could watch the world spin.

He felt a soft nudge against his heart, a gentle tug for attention and an offer of some assistance or comfort, no matter if Yami knew that Yuugi wouldn't accept such things from him. Still he made the gesture; and Yuugi smiled in spite of himself. He was never really ever alone, and sometimes that thought was frightening, sometimes it was comforting. Right now it was a comfort, even if the presence that kept him from ever being alone was a borderline homicidal maniac.

He felt a resonate chuckle. Obviously Yami had heard that thought. He smiled again, his eyes sliding closed, his chest rumbling with a laughter that wasn't his.

"What should I do?" He mumbled.

"_Worry not; she doth not deserve a divine creature such as thee."_ Yami advised.

Yuugi scoffed. '_Divine creature?'_ he laughed humourlessly, the sound hollow and damp. Creature possibly, divine no. He didn't deserve her.

"_Thou deserve more than what one such as her could provide thee. Do not underestimate the importance of thy self." _ Yami said in a measured drawl, careful to sound impartial.

Yuugi saw through it. "I'm not that important. I'm only important to you, but it's obvious why."

"_Thou dost not understand what makes thee so…extraordinary. Thy light, so bright and uninhibited by the stain of grey, has been able to sustain the tattoo. Others born with it died four days after their birth, the shadows sucking the light from them so there was none left to supply them. Thy light hast sustained the shadow and still supplies thyself enough energy to maintain thine own life. Thou hast survived and continue surviving. Thou art no ordinary being"_ Yami's deeper voice replied, blatantly stating things factually. The last comment coming out softer than anything he'd said earlier. "_There are none deserving of such a miraculous being as thou art."_

Yuugi almost blushed, _almost_. He was still suspicious, but the words were flattering and did make some sense. This was the first recorded appearance of the Black Raven in the history he'd found, he was the first to bear the tattoo, but that didn't make him feel privileged. Suddenly there was a violent tug from within his chest, and Yami was forming from vapour before his eyes at the other end of the room.

He slipped from the bed to his feet, eyes focused on Yami. He always made him nervous. His fingers twitched slightly as he eyed Yami becoming more and more solid. Dusks light spilled into the room painting its colours everyone and had at first been dissolving through Yami, but slowly he became more and more solid, his shadow more defined until at last the colour of the dusk was merely splayed against his side, as it splayed against everything else.

Yami's lips turned up at the corners in a devils cake smile. Determined, his clenched fist tightened and he took a step forward, not to be cowed by Yami now he was there in solid form. Yami advanced on him, stepping closer and closer, which made him anxious.

The atmosphere crackled with tension. It wasn't like when he had woken from dreams, it was different. Yami was staring at him with frightening intensity. The room was stiflingly quiet, each sound loud in the hush of sunset. He wasn't even sure if he could trust Yami yet! He was still in a mess about the whole thing, in the middle of a desert without a map or guiding star.

Yami stepped forward. Even from this distance his presence was pushing against him, rubbing against his own presence, friction causing fear. He took a step back.

The grin spread slightly wider. "Why so hesitant bearer? Is thou afraid of the dark?"

"No. Weary of what a thing like you wants." Yuugi replied, fighting the voice in his mind telling him to flee. He could not be weak to this thing, especially considering he was the bearer of the black tattoo. He couldn't allow himself to be walked over by it, otherwise what would happen to him? Possessed forever? Second to his own body?

"Thing, bearer? Why didst thou call me a thing! I am a soul, once of flesh and bone and blood. I am at thy beck and call through the black tattoo, drawn from the realm of spirits at both its and thy will. If our roles were reversed wouldst thou like it terribly to be called 'thing' oh bearer?" Replied the other male, looking affronted.

Yuugi stood and stared at him, he would not take another step backwards (not that he could with his bed there), he wouldn't be moved by him. He couldn't trust him, he shouldn't. Yami had one agenda; _his_ agenda. Yuugi would be foolish to ever believe otherwise, but he couldn't help the sudden increase in heart beat. No… Yami wouldn't hurt him, Yami needed him, needed a body, _his_ body, he wouldn't damage it. However, Yuugi's soul and mind were up for grabs.

He watched silently, Yami staying utterly still. Something about that stillness was more frightening than movement.

Yuugi's breath caught.

Nervous. "How do I know you're not just some creation, or extension of the black tattoo?"

A wickedly sinful smile and the creature stepped forward, almost chest to chest now with Yuugi, staring at him with brightly sparking eyes. "We differ at our cores. For while the black tattoo doth draw light from all around, and harbours it into itself for strength. The curse which has me in the keeping of its old bleak trickery is that I do not draw in light." He said, one hand slipping up to smooth against Yuugi's cheek, moving in closer.

"I am captured by it."

And with that last sentiment, he glided in closer and placed a tender kiss on Yuugi's lips.

His heart should never have been able to beat so hard.

Yami shouldn't have been able to touch him.

He shouldn't have been standing so still.

Yami shouldn't have been able to smile so sinfully as he vanished.

Yuugi shouldn't have been as shaken as he was, his eyes shouldn't have felt as though they were watering, though not with tears, and his teeth shouldn't have clenched when he collapsed back onto his bed. This situation shouldn't have happened. He was mindless as his mind shut down, lips tingling, heart thudding, eyes closed.

This shouldn't have happened in any reality, but it had crashed into his. It wasn't fair, but he didn't have a basis for comparison, so he wouldn't claim it. Exhaustion meant he slept until morning, Yami's smile haunting his mind when he woke.

* * *

Yami frowned, gazing at the troubled interior of his host. He'd enjoyed the tumult of feelings that he'd been harassed with upon returning to his container. Yuugi had been ruptured by the kiss, shaken. Yami had enjoyed it. He licked his lips, remembering the lingering sensation of those sinuous lips and the rush of heat that had growled through his long-stopped-beating heart. 

He hadn't been able to help himself but sample briefly that light and sweetness. But now… regret nipped its sharp teeth at his heels as he'd fled. Perhaps he'd just jeopardised everything he'd built. Perhaps he'd put too much weight on a fragile foundation. An unfamiliar feeling stirred in his chest.

Fear. Crisp and wet as frosting water.

What if he'd destroyed things now? Because he was unable control himself for five minutes. He'd been foolish. Terribly, terribly, foolish. He felt cold. Not even his container warded away the chill, the chill that spread from deep in his chest.

His world was rocked with his host's uncertainty and newly formed mistrust, confusion and fear. His hand clenched painfully as he rose and paced the four walls of his container, stalking, gliding along the floors, up the walls. He was frustrated with himself, how could he have been so stupid, with what he knew, but that light was so… contaminating, Yuugi's presence intoxicating.

His footsteps stuttered slightly as he drove his fist against the wall of his container, feeling the grey press back against it. What had he done?

He was a fool.

A Jester to the comedy of non-life. When did the penance end, pleasure begin, and life regain balance? This existence was just as a flying trapeze of which he was constantly swinging free from, nearly grasping and failing. Ever unfit, always merely a fool for his own carelessness. Wasn't that how it all began?

He grimaced. That would be how it ends. He a fool, missing the swing with no net capable of saving him from the shadows?

His memories whispered closer to his conscious as his bearer grew stronger. He imagined once Yuugi had full control, understanding and a strong enough will, all of his memories would have returned as he became useless. That was what he had theorised. Once Yuugi no longer need him to control the shadows as they used his body as conduit, he'd no longer be needed… perhaps that was his purpose. Maybe then he'd die, the shadows would leave him and he'd be allowed to rest everlastingly instead of non-existence.

But some of what Yuugi would need to know, he'd have to teach which would involve trust, which he had ruined!

The shadows rasped around his ankles with his agitation, seeking to soothe the angry child, but he would have none of it. He leapt to the ceiling, which quickly became the floor, and stared up at the shadows as they misted along the ceiling, if it was called that.

He collapsed backwards and lay in the gloom. It was the task of light to forgive, he could only wait and see the verdict of the emotions marching through his host. In the din of chaos, the boy would regain himself and Yuugi would find his true feeling, and Yami would be laid waste to its judgement. That's what awaited a failed jester.

The shadows tugged. The tattoo was activating. He was needed. Needed if not wanted.

* * *

He'd been attacked. _Again_. Though this person had also muttered something about his light as well. They possibly worked for the same person as the crazy lady. He knew that Yami would enjoy this, that he enjoyed being released, but… he drew himself together, his conscious wrapping around itself like comforting arms, but… Yami wasn't here the next day. 

Yami didn't read about it on the news, about how some kids stumbled on it on their way home from school. He didn't hear about the families of these people, or how their counsellor had said they were starting to get on the right track. He heard nothing about the aftermath, it was all for the moment of flying fists and feathers; where he could release his fury and vengeance upon the world. What did it sow to reap this?

He didn't pay much attention to what happened to his assailant, but noticed, with a small smile - a _very_ small smile - that he'd been spared. Beaten, frightened, and badly bruised, but he still had his life. He could still go home to that family; maybe what he'd been saying had gotten through to the…spirit.

His control was returned, and his knees were slightly weakened. He'd used magic tonight, more than usual.

"_The pool grows ever shallower bearer."_ Yami whispered passed his mind. "_But there are still fish to catch._"

He wasn't sure if he was glad that Yami pretended as though nothing had happened. He was also slightly angry as well. That he could waltz in and interfere, to do something as simple and complex as to _kiss him!_ Especially when he wasn't sure whether or not he was going to trust him. He couldn't find it in him to discount the idea entirely, but logic screamed at him that Yami had a label twice his size reading "Bad News".

He clenched his hands into fists, standing straight before slowly beginning to move towards home careful of his trembling legs. He couldn't deal with this right now, but when could he ever? That kiss was plaguing his mind, worse than one of those colds you just can't seem to shake. Just when he'd finally think that he'd thought about it all he can, that he wouldn't think about it anymore, it'd lash his mind again, and no matter how he thought about it he couldn't reach a decision about how exactly he should feel about having his lips violated by a person who doesn't technically exist, and doesn't technically have a body, and isn't technically living. He wanted to trust, something told him to trust, but against that instinct his mind begged him not to do something so foolish, Yami wasn't just some self-hating bully, or egotistical billionaire; he was a spirit within his body unleashing shadows on people.

Yami must've felt his turmoil or heard his thoughts – he wasn't exactly sure how that system worked – but in the next instant he felt a mind brush against his hesitantly. It was a peculiar feeling, but he was slowly growing used to such feelings and odd sensation; so soft in contrast to the violence the being behind it unleashed. The intimate whisper, like air trailing across water, sending gently undulating ripples along his senses; a calming coolness and comforting warmth all at once. But why did Yami have to _kiss_ him? Weren't things sort of getting better?

"_I… I apologise bearer. Forgive a Jester his comedy."_

And did one apology make everything all right?

* * *

Patience wasn't something that Bakura particularly had in aces. He didn't have five of them hidden up his sleeves when it came to waiting for something to happen, which was exactly what he was doing. Though really he should be more patient, Ryou was curled up around his side, his head resting on his chest as he dozed. He had started a slow cooking stew, which was still bubbling away downstairs, and then quietly slunk into the room and curled up against his side. It wasn't the first time. 

He'd been waiting for something to happen for almost a week now, he wasn't quite sure what but his body knew it. There was something not right, something was going to happen, and there was that tingling in the back of his mind. Like cursive script was being written on the inside of his skull with a paintbrush. It set him on edge; something he knew hadn't escaped his lover who was far more observant and intelligent than most people gave him credit for.

He ran his fingers through the thick white strands of Ryou's hair, feeling warm breath sigh over his skin and a hand curl slightly more around his shoulder. He'd wake up soon and panic that he'd slept too long and his food was going to burn because Bakura knew nothing about cooking and wouldn't notice if the house was burning down, or he'd notice but not care. A smile ghosted his lips.

The smile soon left, this thing that was coming… he just hoped that Ryou was okay. He worried about him whenever he made a new enemy. His greatest weakness, his most prized possession, and anyone who should steal his Ryou was going to meet a painful end.

His fingers still tangled he drifted away into sleep, he was always exhausted; ever since he'd seen Yuugi… there was something wrong. Something… wrong.

* * *

_He stood calmly amongst the clamouring crowd as they all frantically scrambled away from the square. His white hair fluttered briefly as his eyes followed a retreating figure along the skies, wings so dark they reflected no light. The papers called him the Black Raven, heralded him as a hero sometimes, but other times they regarded him with the same distaste they did the criminals that roamed the streets. He wasn't completely a good guy, but he did his share of good things, not that it mattered; he knew what he really was._

* * *

A dream…. What was… that feeling in his chest, his mind was dizzy.

* * *

"_Murdering bastard." He growled._

_Out of the corner of his eye, he saw an auburn haired girl staring wistfully into the sky after him, hands clutched before her chest. Her skirt whipped in the wind, slim arms firmly plastered to her sleek frame. She wore a pink sweater and her blue eyes revealed her absolute captivation with the mysterious figure._

_What a fool._

* * *

Something was wrong! 

He sat bolt upright. Ryou was gone but he hadn't woken up. There was no sound in the house, he must've gone out… but something was wrong. He leapt out of bed, sock skidding on the carpet. Ryou's jacket was still there, as well as his shoes. The scent of burning assaulted his nose and he dashed into the kitchen, spotting smoke rising from the stew pot. He sprung forward turning off the heat.

Ryou would never let food burn.

His heart thudded. Where was Ryou!? He swore and without hesitation tore through the house, finding no sign of his white haired partner. He picked up the phone, quickly dialling the number to Ryou's mobile.

"Come on Ryou; pick up the god forsaken phone! Tell me where you are!" He growled.

_Briip ba da baa da da duuum breee_ –

He turned, finding the source of the sound. Ryou's white mobile was sitting on the lamp stand… he never left the house without it. No… this was wrong. This was very wrong. What was going on?!

"Ryou!" He called. "Ryou!"

He looked around wildly, panic gripping his chest. "_Ryou!_"

Nowhere. No one replied. He grabbed his jacket, jammed his feet into his boots, and never bothered flicking off the lights as he stormed out of the house. "_Ryou_! Where the fuck are you! Answer me or so help me I'll… I'll… _Ryou!_"

No reply. There were marks where the leaves on their lawn had been disturbed significantly. Someone had taken him and he'd slept through it! There's no way. His body froze… he couldn't have slept through Ryou being taken from the house, but he wouldn't have left it without his shoes! He was gone.

Someone would pay.

* * *

Basically this chapter was just a set-up for everything that follows. _**Please hit the review button**_, it's encouragement to type faster than I do. Cheers 


	6. Ch5 Know The Enemy

**Title:** The Black Tattoo  
**Author:** SilverWing147  
**Part:** 5/?  
**Rating:** Yet to be classified  
**Warning:** AU, BL  
**Pairing:** eventual YYxY, YxA, other pairings yet to be realised.  
**Summary:** He didn't know when it came, or where from, but he'd been cursed with a mark on his back. A tattoo of a pyramid with an Egyptian eye, a black tattoo. What some people call a hero, and others a menace, emerges under the name of The Black Raven, and Yuugi's life has never been more complicated.

A/N: Delayed again, oh well. You'll live dahlings. Another action sequence in here, I hope it works out okay, as usual I'm very nervous about its success, but there's only one way to know. Hide under the table, they've got Kaiba Corp.

Chapter 5: Know the Enemy

"Kame Game Shop, how may I… oh hi Jounouchi!" Yuugi chirped brightly from his place behind the counter. His grandfather had gone to collect a delivery that needed his signature, and so he had been left in charge of the game shop – not a particularly hard task.

"_Hey Yuug' you been able to get in contact with Ryou and Bakura yet?"_

Yuugi shook his head slightly in a 'no' though he was on the phone. "No I haven't, I tried Ryou's mobile, and I don't have Bakura's, tried the home phone. I even stopped around yesterday but no one is home and Ryou's boss says that Ryou's called in sick."

"_Hmm, dat's weird."_

"Yeah… I'm a bit worried actually…" He said, playing with a paperclip on the counter as he spoke.

"_Yeah… but I s'pose there's not a lot we can do ey? Who knows with those two, Bakura prolly dragged Ryou out into some cabin in the woods so their neighbours wouldn't hear them.'_ Jounouchi laughed.

Yuugi chuckled weakly in reply, though that did seem to fit in with Bakura's behaviour, and he'd appeared really bored at work, so he wouldn't put it past him to do something like this. "But Ryou would've taken his mobile."

"_Yeah…I'll ask Honda to check around again, he's gonna go call in on Kaiba, so maybe after he stops by there he can go visit the house of the Bakura's."_ Jounouchi offered.

"Yeah, that seems like a good idea. Wait, Honda's going to see Kaiba?"

"_Yup, at Kaiba Corp. even."_ Yuugi could hear Jounouchi's grin.

"Well... at least we'll know that he got the message." He replied.

"_Yup, he's not getting out of it this time." _

At least once every four months, everyone would organise time off while Jounouchi and Mai were in town, to meet up and catch up over card games. They usually tried to get Kaiba to come along, and were usually dismissed, but it wasn't quite as much fun without Seto Kaiba attempting to beat all of them at Black Jack when two worked in the casino industry. It was still fun to get everyone together, and this time it was Yuugi's turn to play host to the gathering, not that he minded, everyone bought lots of food, and most went unopened into his cupboard, so grandpa had no troubles either.

"_Well Yuug' I better... holy shit!"_

Yuugi started. "What? What's going on?!"

"_Channel Nine, Yuug'! Channel Nine!"_

Perplexed by his friends sudden outburst he quickly bolted into the lounge room, flicking on the TV and quickly changing to Channel nine. The sound was down from when he'd been watching last night, but its declarations were loud enough to shake the house.

"_Are you seein' this Yuug?!" _Jounouchi cried as he stared, dumbfounded, at the television.

It was Kaiba Corp. The building was lit up with flashes of red and blue, police cars dotted the base, a crowd had gathered but where being held back. The voice over explained that a few moments ago the police had received a security alert, it appeared that the Kaiba's were being held hostage in his office as well as some other man who is unidentified at the current time.

Honda...

"Jounouchi! When did Honda say he was going to see Kaiba?!" He asked frantically.

"_I-I dunno! He just said he'd go today or something!"_ His voice was tightened with panic. "_I'm going there."_

"Me too. Meet you there." He swiftly put down the floor and headed for the door, grabbing his jacket and stuffing his feet into his shoes.

'_Bearer, dost thou require my assistance?'_ Yami voice smoothed over his nerves, but couldn't stop his shaking hands as he fumbled the lock. He paused. Yami could... they could.

"I..." He frowned opening the door and heading into the street. He could go in as The Black Raven and stop them, or at least do something. With wings he could enter the building soundlessly...

He felt Yami's conscious press against him, urging for an answer. His fingers twitched. "O-Okay, but...together" He replied.

He felt Yami's smile against his mind. '_Together.'_

* * *

Ground floor was panic. Kaiba Corporation provided a _lot_ of jobs and held a lot of authority in Domino. This was almost like holding the head of a bank hostage. He removed his cap, wiping a layer of sweat from his forehead. What was worse was that they were in stand still. They couldn't risk the life of Kaiba Corporation's CEO, his little brother or the mysterious third person now held hostage in the office at the top of the tower. 

It had almost been an hour and there had been no demands made. Ten minutes ago the camera crews had arrived and started broadcasting, stepping on toes as usual.

"Kimari-san, what's the stat?" He yelled over to a young man with headphones clapped around his ears as he glared angrily at a monitor within the van. Kimari looked over to him, agitated as he reported.

"I can get signal on all floors, but the cameras surrounding and within Kaiba-san's office are suffering some sort of interference, but I can point a source. They're not hacked or anything, but I can barely see anything. The system in there is perfect, and the security passwords sent with the distress signal work like a charm, but I just can't get a clear picture." He huffed, glancing over to glare at his monitors again.

"Keep trying!"

"Without fail Kuro-san." Kimari replied.

Inspector Kuro, from special ops quickly turned back to the building in front of him. They couldn't 'copter in, and walking all the way through the building while easy, wouldn't be worth the risk when you neared the top. They need the security footage to check how many were in there and where so they weren't sending blind men into the maze of Kaiba Corporation.

He tapped his fingers against his side urgently.

"Sir! Sir!" He spun around, staring at Kimari.

"What?"

"I've got something. It's just an empty corridor, but the picture has just come clear and there's something I think you should see." He said pointing at the screen. Narrowing his eyes Kuro tried to piece out exactly what he was seeing. There was something written on the wall... but what was it?

"Shit, I can't read that."

Kimari rolled his eyes, quickly hammering in some commands. The monitor display flickered briefly before a close image of the wall appeared. Scrawled in black, paint still dripping from some corners, was written 'Can the bird come out to play?'.

"What the..."

"Sir you don't think they mean..." Kimari started, silenced with a quick look from Kuro. A face appeared on the monitor next to the words, grinning madly as he held up 1 finger and mouthed "hour" then drew the finger across his throat.

"Sir..." Kimari said uncertainly as his boss stared intently at the monitor as the picture quality returned to its reduced state.

"Get me Carter from special ops division six, and release that message to the press. In one hour we won't have any hostages to save and a heck of a lot of trouble." he barked out.

Quickly recognising the no-nonsense tone of the inspector he picked up his head set and called out. They were in some serious trouble if they didn't move fast. Though he could only guess why the message was being released, he suspected the bird they were talking about might be the criminal/hero Black Raven, and that the inspector hoped that he was watching the news. He didn't like the idea of broadcasting an invite to that weirdo but, they only had an hour, they had to at least try to appease the bastards. Was probably against some sort of protocol as well, judging by the tightness in Kuro's face. Ah, well, whoever got here first, Carter or that Raven guy, they had to move quick.

Little did either of them know that The Black Raven was already well on his way.

* * *

He took a deep breath and leapt from the edge of the building. His eyes lit up with adrenaline induced pleasure, a wicked smile forming as he felt his shadow magic curve and tear. They spread from the black pyramid shaped tattoo, tearing through the back of his shirt, latched to his skin. The wings grew, not black, but full of nothingness. They reflected no light at all, absorbing it, drawing it within the pitch darkness of the pseudo feathers. He let loose a wild scream as lines of black spread from the tattoo, gold and red splintering over the top of them, until he was tribally painted from head to foot. They curled into wicked spikes and symbols telling of their darkness, of their power. 

Yami was in control now. God help him.

They quickly careened along the rooftops and between buildings, Yuugi's breath (if he'd truly had any) would've been still in his throat at the daring plunges and twists that Yami made as he travelled at breakneck speeds towards Kaiba corp. staying low so that he wouldn't be detected. But how to get in?

'_Helipad entrance.' _Yuugi offered.

Yami smiled and sharply shot directly up, wings pumping powerfully as the drag of gravity began slowing him. Before he knew it they were atop the Kaiba Corp. building crouched just below Kaiba's personal helicopter. A quick glance told Yami that the roof and door were abandoned. Yami smirked, pushing the door open and skulking inside.

His shadows were already creeping through, telling him the location of the offenders he was hunting. There were three of them, one of them was impressively dark; the other two were similar to the shadow users he'd faced before, one slightly stronger than the other. Maybe the pool had grown too shallow, and at last the owner of the little miscreants he'd been tracking was luring him to confrontation. He scoffed lightly, if that's what he wanted then.

The last shadow using miscreant he'd found had divulged more than enough information, but nothing regarding his boss. Among other things he'd discovered that the modern name for what he had once been was a Shadow Reaper. One who reaped the benefits of the dark by sacrificing the light. He shook his head, these guys were wrong. He was shocked that the dark let such disrespect stand unattended.

His wings were pressed flat to his back as he edged around the corners, he couldn't fight them all at one time. The two minor Shadow Reapers he'd be able to take, but the darkest one would be another battle all on his own.

'_Yami, there's another entrance to Kaiba's Office. Left here, its long way so no one bothers with it.'_

Yami blessed his bearer's co-operation. His host was helping to get their presence greyed rather than one way or the other. He could easily be mistaken for some poor staff member or police officer, not a user of the shadows. Once again Yuugi was pressed to the back of his mind and whispering like a breath on the back of his neck. The closeness surprised him after the kiss that he'd inflicted upon his bearer, but surprisingly he seemed willing to give him a chance to redeem. Was it the victory of an apology that won him the chance?

Shrugging out of those thoughts he quietly made his way through the corridors, alert to the movements within the building. There wasn't much he could do to hide his presence as a being, but hopefully they wouldn't perceive him much of a threat and perhaps send the weakest to deal with him. He could then surprise the shadow reaper and save some energy for later.

The stillness of the corridors was eerie as he rounded another bend. Yuugi's mind grew tense behind his; they were obviously drawing very close to their target. He could feel the three greyer souls just beyond the next corridor; however there was something in his way.

One of the weaker ones. They were moving slowly towards him. He pressed himself flat to the wall at the corner. They'd get a surprise when they found him. Yuugi was tensed in his mind; he could feel the nervous energy and the slight musk of an adrenaline induced excitement. He held his breath as they approached the corner.

It had only taken two blows to fell him. He was completely unprepared to deal with the strength of shadow enhanced blows. As soon as he was in sight, Yami had struck. Unmercifully pummelling him with a kick to his kidneys and then a crippling blow to the head when he was within range. The would-be attacker was face down, motionless but for the light movement caused by his breathing.

'_They'll know we're here now.' _Yuugi said quietly.

'_True bearer, but they would have discovered us eventually.'_ He replied, edging around the corner, using his wings as balance as he pelted down the corridor. Stealth was no longer such an issue, but if he could get there quickly.

'_Left!'_

His wings flared (as much as they could in the narrow hallway), slowing him to make the quick turn before he took off again. '_That door at the end of the corridor is the entrance to the secretary's office, the only way to Kaiba's office is through there.'_ He nodded in affirmation as he pelted at the door not slowing. He was going to give the guy in there the surprise of his life.

Setting a barrier around his front he crashed in through the door, not hesitating before launching himself in the direction of the second Shadow Reaper. This Reaper was more prepared, shielding the blow quickly as Yami's fist glanced off and Yami's motion carried him behind the Reaper.

Wings tucked back he spun around to deliver a high kick to the Reaper's head but was quickly blocked and a pulse of shadow slid him backwards towards the wall. His opponent was wearing a set of black cargo pants, complete with black belt and silver chains. His eyes were narrowed in distaste and a dark thrill, staring out at him from beneath a black hooded jacket. He was slightly muscled although with alliance to the shadows that meant nothing, and was irkingly taller than Yami. He wore a grey vest beneath the hoody, marked with scorches and dark stains that smelt of copper death.

"Hi." The Reaper smiled, his teeth almost disturbingly white. "I'm Balthazar; I noticed you took quick care of my friend a moment ago." Yami's eye twitched. He sincerely didn't like this man already. He spoke in an arrogant drawl, as though he thought himself higher than royalty, speaking with a feigned disinterest in the situation and with no care for his so-called 'friend'. "I imagine you surprised him, I mean, I myself was quite surprised when I felt someone else's shadows move in this building. But I can handle a surprise. My Boss has requested I leave you alive, but beating you beyond recognition is well within my bounds I'm afraid."

Yami chuckled. "I do not think that is what one such as thou should fear."

Balthazar just tilted his head to the side, his eerie smile still sparkling from between thin lips. He felt Balthazar's Shadows slide over his senses, plucking at his own shadows and reaching towards his wings for inspection. He jerked in reflex, rustling his wings to dispel the film of the others shadows as they drew nearer. His own shadows lashed out restlessly against the invaders. Balthazar was stronger than the other man that he had just taken care of and obviously more experienced in controlling the shadows he'd amassed.

He needed to move quickly if he wanted to defeat him with enough energy left to take care of his boss. However... he wasn't sure how long Yuugi's body would be able to endure the toll of magic, as well as how many shadows his soul could sustain. He didn't want to over-clock his host's body so dramatically while it was still not particularly used to the shadows. He didn't want to harm Yuugi in any way at all. He could still remember how exhausted Yuugi had been when the tattoo had activated that first time.

"Aw, that wasn't very polite." Balthazar jeered. "No handshake, no show of power?" He said while his shadows retreated to him.

Yami sneered. "I do not shake with shadows." He growled.

That was all the invitation Balthazar needed. His shadows reared back and then flung forward at Yami who dodged them narrowly, feeling the brush against his tightly draw in wings, cringing as they leapt towards his eyes. He drew his own shadows up, deflecting what he couldn't dodge feeling the glare of Balthazar's narrowed eyes.

With all the deflection and dodging he was doing the attacks he made were quickly dispersed by the others shadows. This was impossible!

He growled, spinning away from another cascade of shadows, pressing his wings in closer to himself to avoid them clipping on anything. He needed to _attack_, effectively attack. But he himself was being pinned by all the other attacks!

He growled in frustration, flipping back further to try and gain some breath back.

'_Yami!_'

He drew in a breath, deflecting the weakened blows while Balthazar smirked from the other end. He was stronger than Balthazar, his shadows knew it as well, but he didn't want to tax Yuugi's energy early on with a power struggle.

'_There's a way. Haven't you noticed that Balthazar hasn't moved since we came in?'_

Yuugi was right! While he was being harassed by shadows, Balthazar himself had kept his distance, not engaging Yami at all. He was fighting only with shadow, and he didn't dodge Yami's attacks, he _deflected_ them. He was relying on the shadows to manage both his attack and defence.

The way to get him, would be with a direct physical assault. If he could put his shadows into deflection and speed, using his wings to shield his back; he could attack Balthazar directly! This meant he'd be forced to dodge to avoid the strike (because it would take too much energy to deflect a physical blow) or be struck by Yami's fist.

He grinned, leaping forward, feeling shadows patter against his front as his own shadows batted them away. He charged, relishing Balthazar's shocked face as he drew back his arm. His muscles grew tense with magic, fist clenched, muscles taunt. He flung himself forward, feeling his fist connect first with the shadow barrier, feeling it struggle briefly and then give way beneath his shadow charged blow. He continued on, putting his whole body into the punch, feeling his fist connect with Balthazar's unprotected side, rib crack, and muscle bruise.

He grinned in vicious victory and satisfaction as his opponent went flying, his shadows stopping their assault as the pain broke his concentration. Yami didn't pause for breath, leaping after him to bury a fist in his stomach, bringing his knee up under Balthazar jaw watching his head snap back from the blow.

Balthazar's shadows flared briefly but were subdued by his own. He quickly fashioned a wicked claw, lashing into Balthazar's side once more and injecting his shadows. Balthazar was through. He no longer had shadows; Yami's were quickly disconnecting them from him in every way before absorbing them.

He smirked victoriously. His opponent was unconscious and free of shadows. The other was out cold as well, but with his shadows and the third... was no longer in the building. He growled. _Damnit_, he got away!

He staggered slightly, adrenaline wearing away, the magic he'd used making him weak. He'd done more than he thought. He needed to get out of here, Kaiba was no longer in danger, the police would be in soon, and he definitely didn't want to be around for that.

Yuugi's mind pressed gently against him, the tint of worry carried in a carefully insinuated question.

Yami smiled. '_We'll be fine... they'll be fine. Let us depart.'_ He assured his bearer, quickly making his way back to the roof.

* * *

"B-Big brother." Mokuba's fist clenched in Kaiba's trench coat, as he remained huddled behind him. "Is... is it over now?" 

He'd been terrified the moment that masked man had entered the room. His elder brother had called security but they had no effect, they were quickly dispersed with. He shuddered, the scent of old blood still heavy in the air. The man hadn't made any demands, or even spoken. It was his underling who had told them what was going on, they were being held hostage, though they didn't make any demands.

"I think so." He answered quietly, blue eyes still narrowed in a glare towards the doorway.

"O-Okay."

"I think it's over. I can't hear anything."Honda said from his place just beside Kaiba. His hands were shaking as the CEO of Kaiba Corporation stayed motionless.

They'd seen through the frosted glass, the ghost figures of two men fighting, one with jet black wings. It'd have to be The Black Raven. When it looked like he was winning, the masked man who had entered originally, had clicked his tongue lightly and vanished into thin air.

Gods, this had to rate at least a 15 on his Weird-o-Metre.

They remained motionless; however sure they were that it was over Kaiba's hand remained wrapped securely around his younger brother's bicep.

They all tensed as they heard footsteps scurrying in the room opposite. "Mokuba, stay behind me." Kaiba ordered quietly, feeling rather than seeing Mokuba nod in response, huddling further behind him.

"_This room looks clear."_

"_Yeah."_

"_That's his office right?"_

"_Right, heat sensor's only picking up three. This must've been the last of 'em."_

"_Only two?!"_

"_And they weren't packin' guns either."_

"_Christ. Come on."_

The door creaked open, the nozzle of a gun poking in, before a wary face followed, glancing around the room quickly. Spotting no one he completely opened the room and ran in.

"Mr Kaiba! Are you alright?" The man said, quickly rushing forward, eyes still darting from corner to corner.

"Fine." Kaiba replied in a clipped voice as three other agents darted into the room. "Have you apprehended the men responsible?"

"Both cuffed and being hauled off as we speak." He replied quickly. "I'm Inspector Kuro by the way. Can you tell me what happened to the men outside?"

"We don't know." Honda answered, stepping forward, relief making his legs tremble slightly. "We think it was that Raven guy."

"Ha!" said one of the other men, a grin on his face as he came forward. "I _knew _it. Heheh, guess that kid got to play hero today."

Kaiba sneered, bringing Mokuba forward and into his arms now it was safe, taking comfort in the trust in his hold as Mokuba tightened his grip on him. He was like this after scares. "That _boy_ is shorter than Mutou and probably more annoying. I wouldn't laugh about admitting that a dangerous vigilante was more efficient than the Domino city's Police Department."

"He's a hero!" Honda argued.

"No he's not! He's just a kid!" Kaiba retaliated.

"He saved all of us!"

"I do _not _need saving!" He snapped, blue eyes narrowed.

He tightened his grip on Mokuba and stalked out of the room, leaving Honda to be escorted out by a flighty Inspector Kuro, unused to people being angry after 'rescue' arrived.

"Damn Kaiba." He growled, entering the elevator.

* * *

Jounouchi was shuffling his feet nervously, Anzu beside him, clutching at her shirt as she watched the building with hawk like eyes. There were three reasons that Jounouchi was nervous. 

The first was that Kaiba, Mokuba and possibly Honda were being held hostage in Kaiba's office. Honda wasn't answering his phone, and he usually kept it on him since it was a gift from Shizuka for his twenty first, so there was a good possibility that the third hostage _was_ him. He wasn't _that_ bothered with Kaiba 'cause god knows that megalomaniac could take care of himself, but Mokuba was a good kid, and didn't deserve this kind of crap so often in his life.

The second issue was that Yuugi hadn't arrived and he lived closer to Kaiba Corp. than he did and so was probably now under the suppression of his other half, and lurking around inside that building trying to get himself killed. He wasn't sure how Yami and Yuugi were getting along, but he hoped that Yami was at least taking care not to get himself killed. Maybe Yuugi had talked him into helping out... but he wasn't going to put too much in that hope basket.

The third and final issue was that the police had entered the building not so long ago, so now the Kaiba's and Honda (if he was in there) were in danger, because the people holding them hostage could shoot them if they were feeling threatened by police, or a police bullet could stray and hit one of them. As well as that if Yuugi _was_ in there, lurking around as The Black Raven, he was also at risk of being shot at by the friendly gun toting law enforcement officers.

The mix of Police, Hostages, and Yuugi all in the same building, didn't sit well in his stomach. He stared up at the building as the lights of the police cars played along the glass of the outside. Right at the top was where Kaiba's office was. The biggest office in the tallest tower.

He frowned, squinting. Was that... there was something at the top, moving away from the building. Was it Raven?! Damn video games damaging his eyes. It was a dodgy guess, but it quickly moved away from the building and vanished along the roof tops. It'd have to be him, unless little black dots were floating in his eyes again.

He heard a quiet gasp from Anzu and quickly glanced towards her. He swallowed thickly as he noticed where she was looking before she dashed out of the crowds. _Shit_!

She must've spotted Raven too. Damnit, why was she so interested?! Then again, he'd caught her reading over an article about him in the paper not so long ago, maybe she was curious to see if she could unmask him. Crap! He knew for a fact that Yuugi hadn't told Anzu about his dangerous little secret, and her finding out this way...

He quickly sped off after her. He had to stop her finding out. For Yuugi's sake.

* * *

'_I am sorry.'_ Yami's voice said quietly as the descended into an alley not far from Yuugi's home. 

Yuugi shirked the apology off. '_It's okay. We saved my friends and that's what counts. I should really... I should really be thanking you for helping.'_

'_It is not necessary bearer. Thy happiness is my happiness.'_ He replied, boots thudding as he landed as lightly as he could on the ground. He quickly took inventory, a few cuts from narrowly dodged shadows, his hand was bruised from that punch, and his body was weak from using too much shadow magic. He had pushed it today with his host's body, but it would recuperate quickly and perhaps soon it would be able to handle more magic. Maybe it was a good thing the boss had vanished. Things would've been much worse if he hadn't fled.

But what had he gained from his little stunt? A test of Yami's power? He obviously didn't want him to know just who his adversary was yet, but what had he gained. From that the news had said before his bearer had rushed from the house, no demands had been made, so it was just... just like a test.

His bearer was concerned as well; he felt it in his soul as he handed control slowly back to his other half, bracing him for the condition of his body. He felt Yuugi stagger slightly as he gained control of his weakened legs.

'_...Thank you, Yami.'_ He sighed, as full control returned. He could feel the wings on his back relaxing, slowly drawing themselves back in so they would cause the least amount of pain as possible. The shadows were slowly withdrawing as well, the marks fading away.

Now how to get home from here... he'd have to take less travelled paths to avoid too many stares from being without shirt this time of day. Maybe if he-

"Y-Yuugi?"

He froze, muscles locking into place even though there were trembling and he slowly turned to see. He shook, oh gods no, no, no, no, no,_ no_.

"You're… you're."

Blue eyes met startled amethyst as Yuugi backed away, clothes torn, arm bleeding.

"The Black Raven."

He had been caught.

"I've loved you all along."

"No. Not me." He replied carefully, voice quivering. His body was so tense that his wings were quickly drawn into his back, but he didn't feel the sting. "A-Anzu I..."

"_Yuugi!_"

Yuugi leapt for joy mentally as Jounouchi surged forward, freeing him from the awkward situation and he pulled off his jacket and quickly wrapped it around him. "Yuugi, shit man, are you okay?"

His body trembled in shock of being caught by his girlfriend, his bones ached from magic, his hand was bruised from the punches, and he was nearly completely exhausted. He leaned forward and Jounouchi carefully wrapped arms around him. "J-Jounouchi."

"Come on buddy, let's get you home and into the shower and Grandpa can make you some nice chicken soup or something." Jounouchi reassured him. He sighed thankfully. Jounouchi would always be his rock.

He smiled weakly, his body falling limp as Jounouchi scooped him up and began to carry him home. To his shame he couldn't even look at Anzu as he was carried past her and towards his home.

Upon his entrance, Grandpa had instantly began fussing, checking his knuckles and torso while Anzu stood awkwardly in the corner watching over the proceedings. "Shower." He commanded, and Yuugi nodded quietly slipping upstairs and into the bathroom where he instantly collapsed against the door.

"Oh god..." He whispered to himself. "What am I going to _do_? I've been lying to Anzu this whole time, and now she knows about about, well she knows nothing but that she thinks that _I'm_ the Black Raven. But I'm not, I'm just the host, I'm not and she knows, and gods, she said she, she... she loved 'me' all along, but I'm not... I'm not..."

His hands tightened. That's why she hadn't mentioned The Black Raven; she'd been harbouring a crush on him. Meeting him must've been the greatest fangirl moment of her life, no wonder she hadn't run. It made sense now. Things hadn't been going well with Anzu until Black Raven had appeared, and then everything was fine. He tugged at his hair, was it because they looked alike... she stayed with him because he... he looked like the Black Raven and she must've know she'd never get the Black Raven and so settled with him?

And he thought _he'd_ been lying. They both had. Oh gods, she was... she...

'_Easy bearer, easy.'_ Yami's voice rippled across him. '_One thing at a time. Shower first, tend thy injuries and rest. No doubt come morning she will still be waiting, your grandfather shall take care of her until then.'_

Yami's words strangely comforted him. Simple instructions to follow, easy. He slipped out of his pants and underwear, Jounouchi's jacket had been long since taken from him, and gently sidled into the shower, immediately sighing at the blessing of deliciously warm water. The spray from the nozzle was relaxing as the jets of water soothed his muscles and skin, washing away the dirt and blood. He winced as it pried into wounds, but the sting soon wore away until everything was just perfect. It was warm, the water so calming as it trickled along his skin and rushed through his hair.

He hmm'd to himself as he washed his hair, the aroma further relaxing him as he allowed the knots to be carefully worked out. There were no problems in the shower. He could forget about Anzu downstairs, no doubt firing questions at Jounouchi and his Grandfather with all the speed of a semi-automatic on crack.

He quietly let himself enjoy the feeling of being clean, and the gentle press of Yami's mind against his own as he soothed him, that soft weight in the hollow of his chest. He felt the contentedness of the other at just being present, and let it wash over him as well. By the time he was clean and out of the shower, he'd be ready to collapse into bed and let the day end.

He washed the suds from his hair and then turned off the water, grabbing a towel and quickly drying himself. He scrutinised his wounds, deciding they didn't need any covering; they weren't going to bleed anymore and they were fairly shallow. So he gently climbed into his pyjamas, flexing his bruised hand to disperse some gathering stiffness.

He quietly padded his way down the hall and into his room, closing the door behind him and crawling beneath his bed sheets. Today hadn't been a good day, but he supposed it could've been worse.

* * *

And there it be. Apologies for lateness, please review, my stomach is rumbling. 


	7. Ch6 The Pieces Collapse Together

**Title:** The Black Tattoo  
**Author:** SilverWing147  
**Part:** 6/?  
**Rating:** Yet to be classified  
**Warning:** AU, BL  
**Pairing:** eventual YYxY, YxA, other pairings yet to be realised.  
**Summary:** He didn't know when it came, or where from, but he'd been cursed with a mark on his back. A tattoo of a pyramid with an Egyptian eye, a black tattoo. What some people call a hero, and others a menace, emerges under the name of The Black Raven, and Yuugi's life has never been more complicated.

A/N: Puzzlefans, get down on your knees.

Oh, and I just wanna make a note kayz, now, there are many stories I read and don't review, because I can be lazy like that, but if I like a story enough to fav it, or watch the writer than I do tend to review, because that way when they update and it comes up in FFdotnet then people browsing can look at it and go "Wow! Look at how many reviews it has!" and then they read it... well I do that cos I'm a snob sometimes. So not only do reviews help authors get an idea of what they're doing right slash wrong, it also gives people searching for stories an idea of how many people liked it. Then again if you don't like it enough to not review then don't... or give a bad review. Man... maybe FFdotnet should think of a rating system.

* * *

Chapter 6: The Pieces Collapse Together. 

It was well into the afternoon when he woke, darkness creeping into the sky when he opened his eyes again. He stretched his muscles, clenching his hand tentatively to check the damage only to smile when it only ached slightly at a tight fist. He was completely free of any marks from the tattoo; his chest was surprisingly empty though.

He glanced around the room looking for Yami as he knew that the emptiness was created by Yami being separate. He found the other soul sitting on the chair at his desk, glaring into a nearby wall as if the answer to several of life's problems were hiding just behind it and he knew they were there. He'd probably heard Yuugi move because in the next moment he had stopped his glaring and glanced inquisitively over at Yuugi, a small smile on his lips.

Yuugi cocked an eyebrow. Yami didn't usually separate himself when he was sleeping unless he was having a nightmare, and given the time of day it was, it was very unusual for him to be out.

"Good afternoon, bearer." He said, the words warm on his tongue.

"Afternoon." Yuugi murmured in reply, distracted by his curiosity. "Why are you...out?"

Yami turned away, looking in another direction instead of at his host body, and their questioning gaze. "Merely restlessness bearer."

Yuugi sighed, fiddling with his fingers tangled in the blankets with the awkward silence which followed. He remembered the first time they'd talk after he had found out the truth of what Yami was, a dead man's soul trapped in a black prism.

"_Who are you?"_

"_Yami."_

"_That's just what we call you, if you were alive, what was your name?" A scrutinising look._

"_I...I do not know." A sad chuckle and slow shake of his head. "I knew once, but no longer. I lost my precious recollections to the shadows long ago bearer. I cannot tell thee what thou wishes to know as I do not know it myself."_

"_You don't know who you are at all?"_

_A mere shake of the head, and Yuugi could see the linger of an old sadness in his eyes._

"_Do you know why you're... stuck to the tattoo?"_

"_No." He replied simply. "I know naught but shadows. Neither time nor memory stayed by me, just suffering in penance for a wrong I committed long ago."_

_Yuugi's mouth was dry. "What did you do?"_

"_The dark took that knowledge; even the shadows themselves do not know my crime." He replied sadly._

"_What's the point of punishment when you don't know the crime?"_

"_True." A slight grimace, a distant look. "But... I do not think that this was to be my punishment."_

_Yuugi looked confused for a moment. "But you're... you're a dead spirit without any memories and you exist in a grey box!"_

"_Again, thou art correct, but there are worse than this. At least I have the chance to make it up, and I couldn't have dreamed a person more perfect to bear the tattoo than thee. Thou doth not realise how blessed I am to be able to reside within thee. I owe thee all I have..."_

Yuugi had felt his opinion of Yami shift in that time. Not enough to warrant an attempt at true trust, but just enough to allow him to trust him some. His help the night before was irreplaceable; Yami _had_ been almost a saving influence in his life. Although the papers weren't sure whether or not to herald him a hero or call the citizens of Domino to attempt citizen arrest of the dark vigilante with wings deeper than the night sky in the desert.

"Art thou well?"

Yuugi jumped. Yami was a great deal closer now than what he had previously been. He was lowering himself onto the side of the bed, perching there as he quickly looked him over for any signs of illness or injury that he'd not noticed before.

He smiled. "No, I'm fine Yami. Just ya know... a bit tired and stiff."

Yami nodded in understanding. "I —"

"—Can I ask you a favour, Yami?" Yuugi asked, looking away from him.

Yami blinked. This was unusual. "Bearer?"

"Can you... I mean... I don't want to go down to speak to Anzu, try to explain to her the truth after so long of lying, and I don't really know if she'd believe me telling her that it's not really me that's the Black Raven, it's you and I'm just the vassal. I'm sure she won't really believe me, and it's not like I've given her any reason to believe anything I say anymore with all the lying that I've done. I'm a-afraid that she'll, that she..."

"That she what, bearer?" Yami grew worried leaning in closer to his host.

Yuugi looked up at him with a truly heartbreaking expression, his eyes glassy and fearful. He licked his lips anxiously. "That she loves you more."

He could hardly swallow around the lump in his throat at his bearer's confession. He feared that his girlfriend loved... but that was insane. Yuugi was perfect, compassionate, albeit a little stubborn at times, there was hardly a flaw to him that could dull his radiance. Even his flaws were perfect. Modesty so flawed it was self-depreciation, he was glorious and didn't see it which made him even more glorious as he could not grow arrogant or conceited. How could anyone not prefer him over some half hero half terrorist with wings and red eyes?

"Yuugi." He breathed. He reached out a hand to touch, fingertips skimming over the fine hairs of Yuugi's eyebrows as his hand swooped to lay a palm against his soft, pale, cheek.

Yuugi breathed out slowly. Yami's touch was strange and warm, but terrifyingly cold with dark. But it felt... it felt, nice. Yami's thumb smoothed over his cheek in a degree of intimacy that he was sure wasn't supposed to be allowed between them given who each of them were and how much trust he had in the mysterious spirit with no memory, and yet he couldn't bring himself to pull back from the touch, and fought not to lean into its offered comfort.

"How could anyone ever want me, when they have thee?" Yami murmured, voice sinuously low and breathless.

The hand slid down his face to rest against the side of his neck, delicately perched on the juncture of his neck and shoulder. As much as he grudgingly admitted it, Yami was gorgeous. He couldn't blame Anzu for having a crush on him, and she had never even met him beyond being lifted by him over a few buildings. His voice was smooth and rich, each word set out with the confidence of cornerstones. Arrogance lurked in his self-assured stance, brought on with the knowledge that he could have to world at his feet if he so wished. They were almost opposites. Smooth and cool to nervous and clumsy.

Yami's other hand rested lightly on his knee, as though he were afraid of the touch being detected and rejected. He licked his lips anxiously at the gesture as Yami's hand continued to smooth down to his shoulder from his neck. "C-could you though? Just... explain the truth to her?"

Yami let out a breath. "She has no reason to want me."

Yuugi shook his head woefully. "Not true. You're a cool, mysterious, vigilante with wings sprouting from your back and tattoo's over every visible inch."

Yami chuckled. "If it were thee in control, thou wouldst have tattoo's and wings. As I am now, I bear no wings and my tattoo is the same as thine." Yami replied, lightly brushing his fingertips against the strands of Yuugi's hair.

Yuugi felt his scalp prickle at the slight sensation. He closed his eyes, hm-ing lightly as he thought over the other's statement, and then decided it was pretty true but, "I'm not like you."

Yami blinked questioningly at him.

"I'm not tall, dark and mysterious."

Yami blinked at him once more, "Bearer, we are of the same height."

He sighed. "That's not what I meant."

Yami chuckled, running his hand through Yuugi's hair properly this time, grinning at the small unbidden noise that snuck from Yuugi's throat. "I know." The words softening into a smile.

His hand on Yuugi's knee shifted slightly until it was resting on his thigh where he paused, waiting to be pushed away. When he wasn't he let it rest there more comfortably, relaxing his hand and arm.

"I will speak to the girl on thy behalf."

Yuugi smiled, relaxing a little more and looking directly into Yami's face for the first time since conversation started. "Thank you."

"Thou art welcome." He replied, resting his hand on Yuugi's cheek again, his other moving to perch on his hip.

Yuugi's expressive eyes flickered briefly, worry and nervousness at the intimate actions. Were he honest with himself, Yuugi would admit that he liked Yami's touches. That secretly he enjoyed the hand on his hip and the one resting against his cheek, his very skin seemed to hum, waiting for the next sensation.

He bit the inside of his cheek lightly. This was bad, he couldn't fall for this. He could tell that with Yami's smooth voice, and the tone he spoke in, that he was trying to seduce his younger host body. Each touch was seductive, tentatively testing while at the same time luring him to want to want more. Worse was that it was working.

The hand slipped down, cupping his jaw line and the pad of Yami's thumb slipped lightly across his lips. He swallowed hard and his body tensed. Bad. Bad, bad,_ bad_.

"I fear, to ask thee for forgiveness once more." Yami breathed, enraptured by the small puffs of air buffeting his thumb as Yuugi exhaled.

Yuugi was only given a moment to contemplate these words before a deafening silence rang through his mind. Yami kissed him again. It was perfect. The sensation was strangely cold, yet warm and tingly. There was a touch of wetness and the heat of breath. His bottom lip captured by Yami who drew it into his mouth, pulling on it as he pushed forward. The hand on his hip gripped tighter and the hand that had been cupping his jaw slid back to cradle his head.

He wasn't sure if he was breathing anymore.

His hands rose, one holding to Yami's shoulder the other stopping uncertainly to press lightly on Yami's stomach. He wasn't sure if he was pushing him away or if he wanted... wanted more.

The kiss itself was easy. It wasn't as though it was his first, he'd kissed Anzu many times, and there was that one time that he chose not speak of but Jounouchi delighted in reminding him about, but this was different. It wasn't different because Yami was dead and a guy, though that could be held accountable for a lot of the oddness, but it was... it was as though more sensation was registering. His entire body stirred with it. It was as though he were meeting his counterpart, someone who knew his body better than himself and was humming to it at just the right tune. It just _felt_ so much better.

He couldn't help it, curiosity and sinning desire, seeking more of the strange sensation he pushed back. Yami gave a small grunt of satisfaction and the kiss grew more intense. Teeth and tongue harassing his bottom lip as he took Yami's upper lip, running his tongue along the underside. His body shuddered as though it was being scrutinised by those red eyes even though they were closed.

He was pressed back towards the mattress and he didn't fight back, but he should. Before he knew it he was sighing into the pressure of Yami's weight atop him, that hand on his hip skimming some exposed skin and tracing patterns that were haunting similar to the marks of the tattoo. His head hit the pillow and the other hand withdrew from behind his head, sliding down his torso to rest with palm flat against his chest.

Yami's lips left his own, trailing to his ear and filling him with burning sensation. Wet and hot, the kisses to his neck, and nips to his earlobe. Wild and sinful, _so_ sinful. This was such a bad idea. Yami's hand grazed a shielded nipple, the roughness of the fabric rubbing over the sensitised peak. Yuugi arched, body caving in to the desire for contact.

Yami leaned above him once more, a sinful smirk on his lips as he swooped down capturing Yuugi's lips once more. Yuugi couldn't find it within him to care. But it was wrong. Yami's hips pushed down against his, and he cried out, sound muffled by Yami's mouth, body moving on its own. Yami's hands skimmed his body, touching and teasing, seeking sweet, hot, sexual flesh. Each brush of flesh on flesh was a madness. Yami pressed down on him again, kissing with fervour.

He pushed back against the darkness, against intoxicating warm lips. His body cried out in pleasure against the body above his, Yami's smile searing his mind. His hands tried to push him away, while at the same time welcoming him closer. Lips moved against lips. He felt himself slip deeper.

He should stop… he should… Anzu was downstairs, gods Anzu. Yami pressed in closer as though willing those thoughts away, hands smoothing his sides as they simultaneously frazzled his nerves. He panted, body arching, caving into the darkness.

Suddenly there was a hand beneath his shirt, teasing the flesh of his chest with ghosting fingertips and pressing palms. _No_. He groaned, this wasn't fair.

Yami pulled back and in an impulsive rush the hands that had been pressing to Yami's chest tightened in the fabric and pulled him back in closer, he mentally laughed at the startled grunt Yami made before his mouth was engaged with Yuugi's once more.

He was pressed sinfully deeper into the mattress, body wantonly arching to press against the other. This wasn't right. This was perfect. Yami's very mind seemed to press against him; the gentle heaviness almost intoxicating.

Anzu was downstairs. Jounouchi was probably down there as well, and grandpa. What if one came upstairs, and right now... uhn.

Summoning more courage than what he thought he should be allowed he pushed Yami back, disentangling his fingers, laying his palms flat to Yami's chest and pushing him away. Yami's hands stopped their movement and for a brief moment all he did was stare at Yuugi as though he'd only just realised he was there and what they had been doing.

"...Yuugi." His voice had a tint of rasp and was breathless. Yuugi was somewhat pleased to see the slight flush on the others cheeks but quickly quelled that feeling, stomping it down ruthlessly.

"Yami... why? Why do you... did I..." He drifted off, frowning. He understood to a degree that when someone was touching him the way Yami had been, his body was bound to react, but not so violently, so easily. It wasn't right. Why had Yami even started it in the first place? Why hadn't he stopped sooner?!

"I crave thee." Yami replied simply, licking his lips his eyes darting around for a brief moment in a sign of nervousness. He could still taste Yuugi on his lips.

Yuugi blinked up at him a slight frown still on his features. "I cannot help, but crave thee. The light I was born without and I the darkness thou dost not have. My sanity, my saviour, how can I not want thee?"

The thud of footsteps. "Yuug', are ya awake yet?" A hesitant voice. He frantically looked over at the door, hearing the squeak of the doorknob as it was slowly turned in an attempt to be quiet.

Oh no. He quickly looked back to Yami to find him gone and a rapid swelling in his chest as he quickly returned to his container.

"Yuug'?"

'_Nice timing Jounouchi_' He thought dryly to himself.

"You're awake!" Jounouchi grinned at him from the doorway, stepping inside and pushing the door to behind him.

"Hey Jounouchi." Yuugi croaked out, forcing a smile onto his lips. "Thanks for bringing me home."

"Think nothing of it pal 'o' mine." Jounouchi said, smiling happily. "Honestly I was a bit worried when you passed out like that. I mean usually ya get home on your own, but I suppose it was different this time eh?"

Yuugi smiled, he knew this tactic. "Yeah." The 'get Yuugi to talk tactic' was well used by Jounouchi on many an occasion where he would try to lead Yuugi into conversation about the events of the night. "There were three of them... the third one vanished. We think it was the ring leader."

"Were they... ya know." Jounouchi wiggled his fingers in a symbol for magic.

Yuugi nodded.

Silence fell between them for a moment, Jounouchi fidgeting before he finally let out a breath of air. "Yuug', I'm sorry I couldn't catch up with Anzu. That girl is damn fast when she wants to be. She was too far ahead by the time I noticed what was going on."

Yuugi's fingers clenched in the sheets at the same time as he smiled at Jounouchi in acceptance. "It's okay; she was bound to find out sooner or later."

"Yeah." Jounouchi replied dejectedly. "She uh... she's downstairs. Wouldn't leave ya know? She's been hammering us with questions, but some of them we thought was best if you answer. But you might wanna clear it up pretty quick, Honda will be back again soon. So uh... how ya gonna explain things to her?"

"I'm not."

Jounouchi opened his mouth to query but Yuugi continued talking. "Yami is. I figured that it would be better, if she could see that... we're not the same person."

Jounouchi appeared nervous. "Yuug' are you sure that... that you should let _him_—"

Yuugi chuckled weakly. "He's not going to maim anyone Jounouchi. Just talk... could you give me a second, then we'll be down."

He seemed apprehensive but nodded anyway and quietly left the room.

'_Bearer I—'_

"Don't apologise. This time it's my fault as well... could you just..." He left the question hanging in the air but felt Yami's compliance, his consciousness shifted back to make way for Yami's, minds brushing each other as they switched.

"Wings?" He said by way of enquiry.

'_Would you fit out the door?'_ The tint of amusement.

Yami grunted, and had he had his wings out he would've ruffled them in irritation. As it was he pulled off the shirt that Yuugi had worn to bed and gently released the wings from his back, wincing as the skin split but there was no further discomfort as they grew.

"She'll believe it easier now." Yami grumbled, pressing his wings to his back as he headed out the door, Yuugi's mind shrinking back. Yuugi needed to hear this conversation even if he was afraid of what would be revealed within it.

* * *

"He'll be down in a second." Jounouchi said plopping himself down at the dining room table. The very same table he'd been sitting at for three hours yesterday while an irritated Anzu pelted him and grandpa with questions. She'd been relentless about what her boyfriend had been hiding from her. 

They didn't feel right explaining more than why they knew and for how long and why Yuugi had been keeping it a secret. They had mentioned Yami but Anzu just didn't quite understand that they were truly separate entities and not just separate identities.

He'd just lay his head down against the table when he heard the squeak of the staircase and everyone at the table turned to look over at the hallway entrance. The first thing they notice with the lack of shirt and the pitch black wings sprouting from his back. Grandpa and Anzu gasped. Jounouchi winced. He probably should've warned grandpa about just _who_ was coming downstairs but he was a little pre-occupied with the knowledge that no one in this room had met Yami before.

"Yuugi!" Anzu cried, noting the blueness of his one severely bruised hand and the mending wounds to his torso that she could see. Her eyes however were quickly glued to his wings and she took a shaky step forward, intimidated by the sight of the odd appendages even though she might've expected them. The tattoo's were absent though.

"Y-Yuugi?" Yami glanced over to his bearer's relative, shaking his head in a negative confirming the elders first thought when he'd noticed the slant of Yami's eyes.

"Yuugi." Anzu breathed taking another step forward. Yami took one back and there was an immediate tension.

"If ye would both excuse us please, Jounouchi, Mutou-san, I would like to speak with Anzu privately." Yami said, looking at both of them in turn.

Jounouchi was instantly intimidated by the power of that gaze and nodded and quickly left the room, Grandpa soon followed. Anzu stood staring at the man of her dreams, literally, though she had risen an eyebrow at the strange lilt in Yuugi's voice, as well as the language. Who said 'ye' anymore?

"Anzu, I am not Yuugi."

"What do you mean not Yuugi? You—" She cut herself off, noticing that he had once again moved back when she had taken a step forward.

"I am not Yuugi, the one thou dost speak of is my bearer and owner of this body." He said, lifting a hand as though to prove that the body wasn't his.

"What... Yuugi I don't understand. I saw _Yuugi_ standing in that alleyway, I saw the wings vanish, I don't know how apart from that it's some weird magic, but that was Yuugi. You're Yuugi, unless when you get the wings out you liked to be called Black Raven." Anzu countered.

Yami shook his head. "That is what the papers called me. The name my bearer graced me with is Yami."

"What? Yuugi, are you just." Anzu was finding it kind of hard to wrap her mind around it. "Are you just... trying to protect yourself by pretending to be someone else? I don't hate you. Yuugi I could never hate you, you were my best friend all through high school, the reason I passed history! If you're scared that I won't like that you... hurt some people, I'm okay with that, I mean I had a suspicion that it might've been you, but I just thought I was being silly."

Yami raised an eyebrow and gestured her to continue. "What do you mean?"

"Well... when we were going through that rough time and I asked you to live with me, I thought that it would make things better but you declined, and it was at that time that the Black Raven made his first appearance. I guess I was infatuated with the mystery, and he looked like you, but not the same as but sometimes I swore that you looked just like him, minus the wings and the tattoo's so I..." She drifted off in embarrassment.

Yami's eyes widened. "Wait... dost thou mean to tell me, that thou only maintained interest because..." Yami wasn't sure he could finish the sentence with Yuugi's mind clamped to firmly to his, shaking slightly with the implications of what she had said.

"It was... shallow of me, but that doesn't matter because you are him! And I, I knew that I'd never meet Raven and you were so there and so sweet and loving that it didn't matter I secretly had fallen in love with this mysterious Raven guy because you looked like him, and it matters even less now because you _are_ him so I've always loved you, I just didn't know it was the part of you that you were keeping secret from me that I loved!" She said the words almost frantically, desperate to explain but she didn't understand the damage.

"I am not Yuugi. I am a dead soul, bound to that of my bearers by the black tattoo he was born with staining his back. I am Yami, if you claim to love The Black Raven, it is me you are claiming to love, not Yuugi. We are not the same." He explained, voice blunt and cold. He felt his bearers mind begin receding, shaking.

"What do you... I saw Yuugi with these wings!" She cried.

Yami's wings almost flared as he grew angry, but he kept them and his temper in check. Her ignorance was hurting his bearer. "Yuugi resumed control at the end of the night; he doth not yet understand the use of shadow enough to be able to combat those who wield it. Every action in the night, every injury and murder made in the night at the hands of black raven were my hands, _not_ Yuugi's."

Anzu shakily covered her mouth with the back of her hand, staring at the being opposite. She took a step back from him, noticing the angry glare of his eyes, the deep redness of his iris and was forced to acknowledge that Yuugi had never passed in archaic tongues when they studied them as part of literature. He wouldn't be able to speak it fluently, and with the slight lilt. No... this wasn't Yuugi, she just didn't want to know it.

She took another step backwards.

"He feared for your safety. He feared that thou wouldst turn from him should thou find out the truth. His fear created secrets he thought would keep thee safe, and thou in turn hath harmed him with thy own terrible secrets." Yami practically growled.

"I... I didn't..." What she didn't want to do was admit that it was true. She had been selfish, but she didn't want to hurt Yuugi, and their relationship was good apart from the lies... but she hadn't loved him as much as she should've. She loved him as a brother, as her best friend to the point where sometimes she became jealous when other females would throw themselves at him, clinging and leeching without having any true affection for him. Hadn't she done something just as bad?

Meanwhile, Yami was gently being coaxed from control and although he didn't want to be, he couldn't deny his host a thing.

"Anzu..."

She hadn't noticed but she'd dropped her head, staring at the floor, but on hearing that voice her head snapped up. It was Yuugi. This time it was Yuugi. He was wearing a sad sort of smile.

"I guess I should've been able to tell, I mean we were great friends it wasn't hard to make it something more right?" He said quietly.

"Yuugi." She breathed... he wasn't. This wasn't happening.

"I don't hate you." She flinched. "It's... it's okay, I was lying too right? So I sort of deserved to have something like this come my way huh?"

She couldn't speak, her throat was tight. Yuugi glanced away, licking his lips nervously. "I'm sorry for lying for so long, but I was afraid that you'd be afraid of Yami and in turn, be afraid of me." He gave a depreciating chuckle. "Guess I was wrong about that eh? Well, I suppose it was a good thing you found out otherwise." He sighed. "You're my best friend Anzu, that's just what we were supposed to be."

The wings receded into his back and Anzu made some strange, quiet hysterical noise. She had really jeopardised something precious, she was lucky she hadn't lost more, but those sad eyes let her know that she'd hurt him. She couldn't stand it. She had done it for him at first, thought that maybe, just maybe they were perfect for each other. He always understood, and he was always beside her, just as she was always beside him, but it was friendship they were perfect for. Yuugi was right. They had tried too hard to make something work that they thought was right, she had tried too hard to keep something going that she thought should work, not realising what she was risking.

"I'm sorry." She whispered when she could get her voice to pass through her throat. "I'm sorry."

And he smiled, and forgave. Meanwhile Yami frowned at the interior of his container a sweetly salty fog curling around his legs. '..._Yuugi.'_

* * *

"We have proof." A voice sneered. "We have proof, my reapers, of just _who _The Black Raven truly is. I had my suspicions," a vicious smirk, "but now I know for sure. Yuugi Mutou, the most unlikely candidate is the Black Raven." 

"Sir." Anxious.

"Yes?"

"What's our next move?" He glanced up furtively from beneath his hood.

The leader of the group assembled before him hummed to himself in thought before a slight grin twitched at the corner of his lips. "Rather than just letting him know that we already have one of his friends, we'll gather a few more hostages, now that we know he will come after someone like Kaiba, his closer friends and his girlfriend will bringing him running without thought." The grin spread wickedly.

"Where to?" Asked on of his other followers.

"My house. You must get at least one person, understand? I happen to know from our guest's answering machine, that they're having a get together, which will be the perfect opportunity. If you only get one, grab the midget's girlfriend, I don't care if you kill the rest of them, but you must get away with _one_ at least. Do you understand?"

"Yes." They replied in unison.

"How many of us are going?" One asked.

"All of you."

"When?"

"The gathering is tomorrow night. You are to strike at two a.m. No later no earlier, understand?"

"Yes, sir." The replied once more in unison, standing and bowing out of the room respectively.

"Tatsuki, I want to speak with you alone." He grinned.

Ah, it was good to have such loyal followers, promise them more dark magic and they flock, show them how inferior to you they are and they cower and obey. He had each of them in the palm of his hand, and could trace their movements without effort. The shadows had been kind.

He sneered. These foolish little 'shadow reapers' think they own the shadows, it was amazing just who incompetent they were, but it also meant they were less of a threat. Behaving as they did, they soon reached a limit of power. A limit which didn't bind on him. The only thing that bound him to a limit was the level of endurance a mortal body could undertake without death.

"Sir?"

"I have a special mission for you Tatsuki." He told the raven haired boy, watching as Tatsuki's interest perked. The last of his ambitious four.

"Just tell me." Tatsuki grinned, licking his lips.

Then again associating with them, promising and owning them was the fastest way to accomplishing his goal. He would take the Black Raven down; drag him down to the ground and slice off his wings.

* * *

"You _what?!_" 

Yuugi nervously scratched the back of his head and Honda's rather loud reaction to 'the truth' as it were. He'd come back from wherever it was that he'd been and spotted Anzu and Yuugi standing across from each other awkwardly while Jounouchi and Grandpa were watching TV in the other room. It was about five seconds prior to walking into the awkward conversation that he noticed the large scars on Yuugi's shoulder blades, the tattoo, the bruises and lastly the fact that one of his fists was a glorious shade of blue black.

So understandably he had demanded an explanation, and Yuugi deciding that while he was on a role, might as well tell Honda. This way the whole close knit gang knew what was going on. Honda had sat and listened quietly, saving his particularly loud outburst until Yuugi had finished explaining that when he was threatened or sometimes when other people were threatened and he wanted to help, he would switch with the other soul.

"Uh, really Honda, it's not _bad_, I mean I'm pretty sure now that Yami's not an evil psychopath." Yuugi explained. He hoped he was pretty sure Yami wasn't an evil psychopath, especially considering how complicated things were getting in the past 48 hours. He'd need all the support he could get.

"So _you're_ the host of the soul who's the black raven, and you can use the magic he uses the only problem is you don't know how?" Honda summarised.

"That's pretty much it." Yuugi grinned.

Jounouchi came over and clapped his friend on the back. "I know it's crazy man, but I've seen proof."

"Wow... so do you know why you were called to Kaiba Corp?" He asked, staring at Yuugi who tilted his head in confusion.

"Called?"

"You mean you didn't see it? Those creeps wrote a message on one of the walls saying that if The Black Raven didn't show up in an hour they'd kill us or something. They had it on all the news stations." He said.

"Heh heh, I must've left by then." Yuugi replied. "Besides, they should know that doesn't work, Yami doesn't answer to summoning like that, others have tried. Not to mention I'm not really a news watcher. But it's fairly well known that The Black Raven cannot be called out like that."

"Yeah that is kinda weird." Jounouchi agreed.

"But I guess we were..." Yuugi's eyes grew distant for a moment.

'_Bearer!'_ Yami's voice was loud, filling his mind causing him to forget what he was about to say. '_That's it bearer! That's it!'_

"What's it?" He queried, unaware of the peculiar stares that his friends were giving him as he addressed nothing.

'_The test! They must have some idea of who thou art! So they take hostage someone who will get news coverage, Honda being there must have been a lucky break, but they knew that thou would defend thy friends, and to further test it, they broadcast that threat. They were testing to see who is behind the alias of Black Raven!'_

"...And we handed them the answer..." Yuugi grew pale, and he quietly collapsed into the nearest chair.

"Yuug'?" Jounouchi asked worriedly as they drew in around him in a circle.

"They called The Black Raven... but it was only a precaution. They took Kaiba and Mokuba hostage knowing that I'm a friend of them but not that great a friend, so they broadcast the threat to their lives, knowing that if the Black Raven was who they thought it was, that he'd come... and I ran straight to them. Guys... someone else knows now." Yuugi's voice was haunting and subdued with shock and horror.

"How would you know that? I mean... Kaiba's just rich and important, maybe they though that'd be enough to get you?" Jounouchi exclaimed loudly.

"Honda was there too." Yuugi added.

"A co-incidence." Jounouchi waved it off.

"Wait a minute Jounouchi. That guy who was in the room with us, when Yuugi beat that other guy in the secretaries room, he smiled before he vanished. He smiled like he'd won or something which didn't make any sense to me 'cause he vanished so you'd think he was afraid of getting his ass handed to him but no." Honda added

"What was the point in taking the CEO of Kaiba corp. hostage but not demanding anything?" Yuugi said. "What was the point of calling Raven when he never answers, and when he does, fleeing with a smile afterwards?"

They each stood (or sat in Yuugi's case) quietly horrified. The idea that the ring leader of a murderous group, a group who had been able to empty Kaiba corp. _knew_ who Yuugi was and that they had gone out of their way to find out...

"What are we gonna do?" Jounouchi said quietly, looking at them each in turn.

'_Bearer, perhaps the safest place for thy friends is here. They may come after them now they know.'_

Yuugi nodded. Yami could be a real blessing when he wasn't busy being a curse. "Alright guys, until we know just who this person is, you should all stay here. Safety in numbers, right?" He said.

They all nodded eagerly. "Yeah, that sounds right... but what about clothes and stuff?" Honda asked.

"Maybe... we could all go around and get people's clothes tonight, in a group." Anzu offered, adding to the conversation for the first time in a while. Yuugi looked over to her, watching her glance away in shame.

He smiled nevertheless. "Yeah, that's a great idea Anzu. It's not too late at night and I'll come with you guys just in case!" He said jumping up from his seat, only to have dizziness hit and stumble back into it. Looks like he'd underestimated how tired he was, then again Yami had just been in control, his body had a bit more energy left directly after possession and he'd been in control again for a while now.

"Whoa!" Jounouchi leapt forward, putting a hand on his shoulder and Honda took his arm on the other side. "Damnit, I forgot you only just got up, shit Yuugi you should be still sleeping or something!" he reprimanded himself his lack of attention.

Yuugi attempted to shrug them off. "No I'm fine. Come on, let's get you guys' clothes."

"Clothes can wait 'til tomorrow Yuug'." Jounouchi countered as Yuugi tried to get free from their hold.

And fail. He was much too weak to shrug off their supportive hands and Honda firmly shook his head. "Is he always like this?"

Jounouchi shook his head. "Sometimes... lots of times, he's worse, but from what I know using magic wears him out more so he should still be exhausted if he was fightin' freaks."

"Right, on three then?" Honda grinned.

Jounouchi matched it with his own demonic grin and Yuugi felt the bottom of his stomach drop out.

"Guys?"

"Three!" the cried in unison, Honda grabbing Yuugi's feet while Jounouchi hooked his arms under Yuugi's arm pits and they carried him like a stretcher upstairs, all the while he protested this ridiculous treatment. Anzu smothered a laugh as Grandpa looked on with a grin wide on his lips.

He sometimes worried about Yuugi, up until the point where all three of his friends were standing around him. They'd at least stop him from hurting himself. He threw Anzu a curious look. But Anzu and Yuugi had been off since their talk, but he supposed that secret had come out and things were a bit awkward now.

He could tell that Yuugi was a lot more hurt and confused than he was letting on. His eyes were strangely far away even when he was focused on the conversation. There was something terrible going on inside his grandson, whether it was because of something that happened within Kaiba corp. or... he looked over to Anzu noticing her single clenched fist. Or something else. She caught the look and quickly glanced away, following the other two upstairs.

By the time she'd reached Yuugi's room, Honda and Jounouchi had him pinned beneath the covers while he sulked at them, bottom lip stuck out in an adorable pout. "Well, while you guys are doing that, looks like I'm snagging the spare bed." She declared.

They quickly forgot Yuugi.

"What?!" Honda cried.

"No way!"

"That things a double!"

"You can't hog it all for yourself!"

"Yeah there are two of us and we're both guys so we can have that and you can sleep on the futon."

"You'd make a lady sleep on the futon?" Anzu countered.

"Who's a lady?" Jounouchi muttered quietly, Yuugi and Honda snickering as Anzu furiously socked him in the head. "Ow! What kind of a lady hits people?"

"Welcome to the twenty first century!" Anzu said before turning on her heel and walking out. Quickly realising just where she was heading, Honda and Jounouchi followed hearing after her, door slamming shut just as Yuugi was in time to catch the grin Anzu threw his way.

They were better friends. Anzu always knew just what to do. He'd have to remember to thank her for that later. But... would they still be able to return to the kind of friends they had been before... even after she had...

'_Bearer... art thou okay?'_ Yami whispered in his mind, voice thick with genuine concern.

Yuugi sighed rolling over in bed as tiredness began to pull at his body once again. He had so much to think about his brain couldn't even begin to function "I'm fine Yami... I'd probably be worse if I hadn't been," yawn, "making out with you just before hand."

'_Anytime.'_

Yuugi chuckled weakly to himself before settling into a deep sleep, carefully avoiding thinking about the worrying feeling that came from the other inhabitant of his body, the tattoo gently throbbing against his spine.

* * *

Authoress is hungry. I feed you some ficcay you feed me some reviews please? holds out hat 


	8. Ch7 Easily Consuming

**Title:** The Black Tattoo  
**Author:** SilverWing147  
**Part:** 7/?  
**Rating:** Yet to be classified  
**Warning:** AU, BL  
**Pairing:** eventual YYxY, YxA, other pairings yet to be realised.  
**Summary:** He didn't know when it came, or where from, but he'd been cursed with a mark on his back. A tattoo of a pyramid with an Egyptian eye, a black tattoo. What some people call a hero, and others a menace, emerges under the name of The Black Raven, and Yuugi's life has never been more complicated.

A/N: I'm late I know. I'm sorry. Please also forgive the errors in here, I know there's quite a few.

* * *

Ch7. Easily Consuming

It had all happened in a rush. Yuugi woke up late the next morning, and by late meaning somewhere between the hours of three and five o' clock, so showering getting dressed and heading out the door with his three friends, had all been sort of a rush. But now that they were out of the house and on their way to destination one - Anzu's house - things had slowed down.

His nerves were still frazzled with the excitement of the past forty –eight hours, as well as there being the nerves that came from knowing that a bunch of shadow reapers could be watching you, waiting to strike at any moment. To be honest, he didn't know how much of this he could take. He sighed, Anzu throwing him a somewhat concerned look to which he replied with a reassuring smile.

Anzu, Yami, kidnapping, Shadow Reapers, The Black Raven, his friends being in danger, Ryou and Bakura being missing (something of which he was beginning to scare him more and more), his hand hurt, his muscles hurt still from playing host to the shadow magic (though to be honest the hurt was only dull and only when he really used the muscles). Adrenaline had long ago worn off and the harsh truth was slowly bearing down on him. One relationship lay behind him in a somewhat dishevelled state of friendship, Anzu's smiles and kindness were helping, but the sting remained. In truth, while she had been with him, lurking in her mind was Yami.

His foot scuffed the pavement, Jounouchi and Honda talking animatedly ahead of them about just who's ass they were going to kick when they showed their face. Yuugi admired them their enthusiasm but...

"There's no way you could do it guys." He said, voice almost too quiet to be heard over their boisterousness.

"Wha?" Jounouchi said, spinning on his heel to face Yuugi, who just grinned at him almost tired.

"You couldn't beat up this guy, you wouldn't even be able to get close."

"He can't be that tough!" Honda cried.

"He only emptied Kaiba corp." Yuugi replied with some of the snark accumulating from the worries on his mind. He winced, he hadn't meant it to come out like that. "Sorry guys, I'm just worried. This guy... I don't know who he is and if he's able to boss around a bunch of Shadow Reapers like he does, well, then, he's going to be pretty dangerous."

He licked his lips, looked down as his gut twisted thinking about the mysterious man. "He has a lot of shadows, more than we've ever faced... even I could feel him from the other end of the building. He's _dangerous_."

"So you just want us to stand around and do nothing while you try to do this on ya own?!" Jounouchi cried, arms flailing out.

"Who are these 'Shadow Reapers' anyway? They like a gang or something?" Honda asked. Yuugi noticed Anzu's interest increase as well.

He chuckled, scratching the back of his head. "I guess I didn't really... explain these guys to you. Ah, really it's Yami who has the better understanding and I know via default but I'll explain it to you when we get home okay? Just... not on the streets."

Jounouchi grunted and ascent and shoved his hands in his pockets, continuing on.

They reached Anzu's house with no hassles apart from the few haphazard attempts at conversation. Honda and Jounouchi's homes followed without complication, Yuugi was attacked by Honda's dog and the gang waited down stairs while Jounouchi snuck his way past his old man.

By the time the game shop loomed into view the streetlamps were coming to life and the sun had almost completely lost the battle to stay floating in the sky. He had a quiet conversed with Yami over the duration of the walk to fill in some gaps in his knowledge about shadows and shadow reapers, because honestly he didn't know that much himself.

"Okay Yuug', spill. What are these guys coming after ya?" Jounouchi asked, plopping down next to him on the sofa.

"Well... They're kind of difficult to explain without you kinda... okay. Well they're not a gang. It's like... you know how Witches and Pagans just call themselves Witches and Pagans, and the same with Christians and the like?"

"So it's a religion?" Anzu asked.

Yuugi shook his head. "Not quite. It's a belief system in some ways, but they're still free to practice a religion anyway. I don't really know the ins and outs of that part, but they're not a gang. Yami says that they've probably been called different things throughout history, Shadow Reapers is just the modern incarnation."

"They're basically shadow users, like the Black Raven. They manipulate shadows that they've gained and use them for their own ends. The guy who told us who they were said that a shadow reaper was someone who 'reaped the benefits of the dark by sacrificing the light'. They've been running around town gathering all the innocent people, the ones with the most light in their heart. It makes them stronger to be able to offer light to shadows like that... though the ones we've been encountering weren't just gathering them for themselves; they were bringing them to someone, probably to their boss which is why he's so much stronger than they are."

"Wait a minute Yuug', you're saying they suck the light out of peoples soul?" Jounouchi asked, eyes wide with horror.

Yuugi shook his head slowly. "I'm not exactly sure how they get the light, if they take it or the soul, or... I don't know, but they die. You can't live without at least some light in your body, it creates life, without it you die."

"So if you're not strong enough to beat these guys and you wanted to get stronger, then you'd have to kill people?" Anzu asked.

Before he could answer Yami's voice echoed in his head. '_It is not so. Thy light is endless, thus are the shadows thou art able to call to thee. The only prohibiting factor is thy body's endurance.'_

"Yami says that because of the way I am, the reason I can bear the tattoo, I'm not restricted. The only thing that stops me from being stronger is how much my body can take. That's why I'm always tireder after fighting one of these Shadow Reapers, I'm not used to the magic, so I can't... my body doesn't endure it well." He explained. Anzu nodding in understanding.

"Okay so they're a bunch of occultist shadow wielding psycho's who kill people?" Jounouchi summed up.

"Not necessarily occultist, but the psycho part I'm not so sure on. The guys we've met so far haven't been that strong, but..." Yuugi drifted off.

"Okay, so explain to me this shadow strength stuff. So what did you mean by the way 'you are'? What's different about you?" Honda asked, glancing him over as though looking for some visible deformity he'd been ignorant to.

"Well...my soul is... lighter than usual for lack of a better description. If what Yami said is true, if I hadn't been born with the excess light then the tattoo would've killed me at birth." He said with a skittish sort of chuckle, trying to make light of the situation. "It's like... okay, picture a light bulb. If it's a really low watt, lots of dark not so much shadows, but a high watt light bulb and you've got not so much dark but lots of shadows, really strong shadows, which is why shadow reapers take the light from other people, they need it to make stronger shadows."

"O-kay, any idea why they're after you?" Jounouchi asked.

Yuugi shook his head. "No. Their boss must have a grudge against the Black Raven, and so thinking it's me and not some other soul in my body... well maybe just get rid of the body component that is the Black Raven." He shrugged.

"Why would they be after us then?" Honda asked.

"What are you dense?" Anzu said haltingly. "They'd want us because we're friends with Yuugi. Think about it. They just held Kaiba hostage to make sure, the next step up is for them to get us. They'd use us against him."

The room fell quiet with the announcement as Yuugi was forced to admit the truth of it. Hearing Anzu saying it just made it so much more real, and so much more dangerous. A hostile thought that rampaged through his mind.

"But we'll be fine, we got Yuug' with us!" Honda said jumping to his feet.

Yuugi grinned at the vote of confidence. "Thanks Honda."

"Kids! Dinner on the table!" Grandpa called from the dining room. Honda and Jounouchi were the fastest out of the room, and Yuugi made to follow when there was a touch on his shoulder. The touch was light, so light he'd barely felt it, but it froze him in his tracks, his body stiffened, and he turned.

"Yuugi..." Uncertainty.

"Anzu." He acknowledged, looking at her carefully. He was afraid in part, of what else she might have to say, terrified of what she may admit to, and stupidly paranoid about what she might know. He wasn't sure what to expect, it was hard. They were friends now, but they hadn't said it to anyone else, they hadn't had any time apart to deal with the change, everything else was pushing them into a box together when they were probably the last person they wanted to see.

His insides quivered. She smiled.

"I know you'll protect us Yuugi. You're the most loyal person I've ever known, and I know that you'd give your life for any one of ours." She said softly, eyes watching her feet.

He nodded, throat dry. Where was this going? Yami's mind pressed his as he listened in interest.

"But I don't want you to. If saving us or... if saving me means that you have to die, then I don't want you to. It was hard enough to see you practically passed out in that alleyway. I just... you've been doing this on your own, and no matter how I tried to get you to talk to me you wouldn't, because you were afraid of me hating you, or of hurting me." She continued, her gaze lifted from where it had been looking at the floor, and she looked at him. The conviction in her gaze made him pause, throat tighten and fingers curl into loose fists.

"You're not alone. You shouldn't have to be alone." She bit her lip. "I'm not, we're not... No more pretending Yuugi, you don't have to worry about my feelings, about hurting me, I want us to be better friends than we were partners, I want you to trust me and I want you to know, that I believe in you Yuugi. I believe that when you fight, you will win."

He shuffled nervously, looking away. "It's not me that'll be fighting... your words should really be for Ya—"

"No! They're for _you_." Voice strong with conviction and her will to make him understand. "I believe in _you_ Yuugi. I believe in your heart. It's your body, your light, it's you. Yami might be the fighting strategy, but you're every part that makes his strategy work, and I believe that if anyone could save us... it'd be you." She smiled, reached over and ruffled his hair.

"You're my best friend. Even if I can't fight with you, I want to support you. Even if we're not together, I want you to know, I'm still here for you, if you can forgive me."

Her voice was soft, heartfelt, and sincere. The weight of lives and magic on his back seemed overwhelming as she smiled, holding out her arms to him with words alone. He could almost feel his insides crumbling. The lies he'd been telling himself, the things he'd hid from thought so he wouldn't... they were dissolving under the passionate gaze offering comfort. His throat tightened, he bit his lip, and held back tears. He didn't want to...had to be..._damnit_.

Yami pressed his mind further against his hosts in comfort and Anzu laid a hand on his shoulder the grip reassuring and strong. She smiled at him again and headed into the dinning room.

He wiped his eyes once, took a deep breath and followed in after her, quickly shoving a lid back over the box of problems and recovering the crumbling walls. He'd be fine.

* * *

"Sir."

"Yes, Tatsuki?" He asked, flicking around to stare at the man who'd interrupted his ponderings. "What is it?" He spat.

"We have never questioned your hunt for the Raven, but instead willingly followed your every command, showing you utmost loyalty at all times." He said, the smirk on his face at odds against his words.

"I repeat; what do you want Tatsuki?" Growl.

The smirk never slipped. "Let us go earlier and once we have the friends, let us steal the light from them. Give them to us. He'll follow them whether or not they're alive."

"No."

"_What?_ But what use do you—"

"I said _no_ Tatsuki." The words a deadly hiss. "I have my reasons for wanting them alive and whole. Is what I have given you not enough? Besides," a smirk, "I'd worry less about his friend's lives, and more about saving your life from him. "

Tatsuki sneered, turning on his heel to leave pausing when his master continued speaking. "I can smell your traitorous thoughts from here Tatsuki, last of the ambitious four. Need I remind you _why_ you show me complete obedience?"

Pressure rose, and Tatsuki winced, clenching his teeth. "No, sir."

"And the Reapers?"

"Ready to leave on your word."

"And you, Tatsuki?"

Teeth still clenched, defeated. "I'm ready to undertake anything my master commands of me."

A smile. "Good."

* * *

'_Bearer?'_

"Mm Yami?" Yuugi asked, rolling around to lie on his back. His friends had long since gone to bed, but he couldn't sleep. There was something going on.

'_Thou art not well. Thy lies are transparent; it is clear that thy heart is troubled and aching.'_ Yami's voice a low murmur in his mind.

He sighed, rolling on to his side once more. "It's just... it's a lot okay Yami? Just a lot."

He got the impression of Yami blinking in confusion, but he didn't think that Yami could understand. They needed him to protect them, it was his body that had to be there so they would be killed or taken away. He didn't want to include his friends in this... in this _curse_! He didn't want his grandpa at stake. He wanted to know where Ryou and Bakura were but he still couldn't contact them, and if he went to check it out he'd have to take all of his friends, and probably grandpa, and that would be far too risky. It was frustrating. He knew that between him and Yami they could probably get to the bottom of this, find this boss and stop all this stupidity, death and violence, but he couldn't because this boss had rounded a corner and blind sighted him. Now his friends were at risk and he couldn't leave them, so what was he supposed to do? He couldn't sit in defence the whole time.

And then there was Anzu, ready to tell him not to die, while swooning for Yami and lying, but that was passed. She was only human, and she was trying to do what she thought was right. He loved Anzu, the betrayal hurt, but it wasn't a mortal wound against him. He'd be fine, he was always fine just after, it was all great, and maybe this was good. He didn't really love Anzu the way he thought he had, because Yami had been easily able to do what he did without him fighting too much against it.

And that brought him around to Yami. It was confusing. The anti-trust was pretty much entirely gone, and now he trusted him enough and entertained the possibility of just accepting what it is that Yami does. Accept and forgive, if not understand. It's just the way Yami is, and he's a spirit. This means he'd be practicing necrophilia if he pursued Yami, which was a completely ridiculous idea. Yami was a spirit, but, _gods_ that kiss it was so _alive_ it was incredible, but that was wrong, and he couldn't be focusing on trivial matters like this when there were far more important things at stake, such as the lives of his friends.

His brain felt like it was going to explode, his heart was being pulled in every direction possible, and the confusion was practically unbearable. And the _guilt_. His friends were at risk because of him. Damn the guilt. Once he started on thinking about it, it was almost enough to make his brain spin out, so it was best not to think about the problems. Was best not to think about his friends sleeping down stairs, and the psychotic evil genius plotting his demise; was best not to think about Anzu and Yami; was best not to think at all really, especially with that clacking around outside.

'_Bearer_.'

He sat bolt upright. Clacking around?

Yami's mind whispered against his, and shadows oozed around him, probing, feeling. He shuddered.

'_There is someone strong just beyond thy house. Approaching slowly.'_

He eased out of the covers, slipping off his shirt, padding downstairs to his shoes. He paused at the door, spotting his friends all sleeping soundly. A wry smile tugged the corner of his lips as he noticed Honda's arm wrapped around Jounouchi and Jounouchi's arm resting on Honda's forehead. They'd jump a mile apart when they woke up like that. Anzu was curled into the couch, head against the cushions, auburn hair splaying around her head in a sleepy mess.

'_Bearer.´ _Urgency.

He chided himself for loitering and quickly made his way to the entrance, tugging on his shoes and slipping outside making sure the door was locked behind him. He slipped down the street, into an alley where Yami seized control, wings silently pumping them to the top of the building where the rival was standing.

'_They will be safe._' Yami reassured him as they flipped over the top.

'_I hope so.'_

* * *

He had never been commended for patience. He didn't have it in spades or aces, or whichever card you wish to name, it just wasn't a talent. Strength, ambition, drive, he had them. Three up each sleeve.

He licked his lips, spotting the Game Shop, sensing slight movement. Good, he knew that he was here, ready and waiting. His master's instructions had been clear. Beat and taunt, distract and lure away from the game shop. A perfect plan, not to mention he got to square off against the Black Raven.

He tapped his foot, hearing the light click of a door and swift steps on pavement. He heard the whoosh of wings beating the air, and the whisper of shadows not his as they slipped along his senses.

"Welcome to the roof, Black Raven." He turned, smirking in arrogance.

"To whom am I responding?" Smooth, rich voice. It was fairly intimidating as well, but drive and ambition conquer intimidation tactics.

"You may call me Tatsuki." A mock bow. "A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Raven. My master has requested that I be despatched to... dispose of you." A wicked grin.

The Black Raven's grin grew wide and he raised an elegant eyebrow in return. "Oh really?"

"No hard feelings though." Tatsuki hissed, his shadows gathering.

"Not at all." Raven grinned, licking his lips slyly and his wings flaring behind him. There was a tear as shadows screamed trough the air towards him. Straight to the point, got to like a man who's straight to the point.

He dodged quickly to the side, spreading his fingers wide, thrusting his hand forward, the shadows extending past and towards the Raven. Raven sprung from the ground, effortlessly arching over the shadows and retaliating with more of his own, lunging forward as he hit the ground.

Tatsuki blocked the blow, striking back. Raven smirked; this Reaper didn't share the weakness of the other stronger one he'd fought. Tatsuki didn't give him chance to breathe, striking back agilely, foot darting out, hand sweeping in close, body arc, pulsing out and sending him reeling back.

Raven, didn't pause, regaining his footing and darting forward. The winged one feigned a blow to the side, quickly bringing his hand around to strike his shoulder, leg hooking around his front foot, slipping it out at the same time.

He went down, trust hard to the ground. He hissed in pain, shoulder blades digging against the hard concrete of the roof. He twisted a hand, pushing shadows thrust against his back, sliding and lifting him backwards. He flew high in an arc to land on the next building, shadows slowing him before impact.

Raven pumped his wings, darting upwards into the sky and charging for him. He narrowly dodged, sending snaps of shadows after the other man. They weren't strong enough to damage his wings, merely dispersing into it. A whispered curse and the Raven pelted him with shadows. He dodged deftly to the side, blocking the rest with a wave of shadow.

"I commend thee for thy skill." Raven jeered. "But thou cannot hope to create a victory against my shadows."

"I don't need victory. Me surviving and you crippled will do me fine." He smirked, lunging forward, shadows surging behind him. "Enough of a victory to steal that precious light!"

He roared into his next attack, enhancing his blows with shadows. In the air, Raven easily dodged him chasing him back to the ground with a flurry of attacks, punches, kicks; knees and elbows joining the fray. One or two landed but the damage was minimal, clipping his side or shoulder. His feet struck concrete and he countered, shadows ripping into the ground as the lunged blood thirsty for Raven. Raven's own shadows rose in defence, neatly stopping his shadows from making contact as well as launching attacks against him.

He sighed in exaltation. Fighting with fist and shadows at the same time! The skill involved was immense. He was fighting a true Shadow Reaper. Adrenaline raced through him like fire and lightning, sparking his awareness, burning the pain out of his limbs whenever they were struck. It was like being invincible and vulnerable all at the same time.

Duck, strike, block, dodge, block, strike, strike, block, strike, dodge, duck.

He paused in time to catch the Raven smirk. He was in the wrong position.

He quickly raised arms and shadows to block, a beat of wings and a mighty shove from the Raven and he was soaring backwards. He used the shadows to lessen the blow as he neared the roof of a building two away from where they were. His shadows could only do so much, helping to lessen the impact and raise him back to his feet before the Raven could pin him.

Damn, it felt like he'd just been drop kicked. He managed to shield in time to not suffer any rib damage but his shadows were growing weaker with over use. He expected him to be good, but not this good. The Master was right to warn him, but how people became this strong was a mystery to him.

"Art thou still breathing? Or should I fetch an embalmer to tend thee?" Raven jeered, easily soaring over, landing at the edge of the building, sauntering across easily.

He was almost defeated. He roared in frustration, sending a lash of shadows darting forward, attacking darting back, leaping back to the next building.

Raven followed to counter his previous attack. His arm was going numb with the shadows. Damnit, he was going to be screwed. He dodged, Raven's fist burying into the brick behind him. He leapt back, countering with more lashings of shadows. They were weaker now, easily deflected as Raven came toward him again, like a demon with burning red eyes. The Shadows had stretched over his hands to forms claws; no doubt they were tipped with the same deadly substance that had rendered his comrades incapable of handling shadows.

He swung back, leg arcing to strike at the Raven's collar bone; it was dodged, heel digging into concrete. He lunged, his fist struck the joint of Ravens wing and they both cried out, springing back. He felt like he'd just grabbed hold of a naked electrical wire! His whole arm felt numb.

A breathy laugh from the Raven, his eyes narrowed.

"I see that there's more to your wings than what you'd first think." He said.

Raven grinned.

Oh, he was screwed. Time to change tactics!

* * *

He wasn't tired exactly, but this battle was wearing on the body's endurance. The Shadows were still strong and eager to help as always, but he didn't know how much magic he could continue to use while maintaining that Yuugi would be able to easily use his body the next day.

That blow to his wing had been painful, but he'd been happy to see the pain that the contact with his wings had caused his opponent.

"You're as skilled as my master warned me you would be." Tatsuki commented.

"Who is he?" He demanded. "Tell me and thou might yet live." The threat was hollow but Tatsuki didn't need to know of his bearer's completely anti-kill policy.

"I couldn't tell you if I tried, not that I would anyway." Yami sighed, he should've known. "But I know your name, Yuugi Mutou. How are your friends? You keeping an eye on them? I imagine that those guys are the light of your life eh?"

Yami growled, his hackles rising. He didn't like this new tactic of Tasuki's.

Tatsuki smirked. "My Grammy used to say that friendship is like the sun, sometimes it burns you sometimes it warms you. How close do you think your friends would have to be to death before that starts burning you?"

"_Shut up_." His bearer didn't need to hear this rubbish. It was merely taunting, riling him up, hurting his bearer with insinuations about the deaths of his friends, insinuations and pain that he did _not_ need right now.

"Ooh, touchy subject. Guess little guys like you can't live without the sun." A Tasuki leapt forward, he blocked it, but Tatsuki's face was now glaring into his own as he whispered. "Your light is being stolen, Yuugi Mutou, and you're too busy to stop it."

Reality left him numb. They were pretty far from the game shop by now. They'd been lured away! This guy was only a distraction. No...

Smirking Tatsuki struck, blasting him with shadow energy, he was flung back and into the sky, lashings of shadow magic chasing after him. He narrowly dodged them, a few of them stinging across his skin. Blind with fear and rage, most of it not his, Yami came forward.

He struck, wings flat as he darted in. The blackness caught him, shooting through the wingtip, slamming him back against the building. He screeched, the wing falling limp and numb with the dark crackle of electricity.

"Let us see you live without the sun" A voice jeered from above.

"Let me see if thee lives at all." He called back, brining his hands up, fingers splayed as he cursed. Dark and gold came to his hands like knives and with a louder curse were propelled towards the silhouette.

He heard a scream of agony as one of them struck and smirked to himself as the impending doom of the dark ground loomed closer. He desperately opened his wings, one hardly moving, and tried to pump away from the ground, only slowing his decent fractionally as he spiralled towards a wall.

Oh this was going to _hurt_.

His back struck the wall; he bounced off it and onto the ground, grunting as the breath was knocked out of him, landing on his front to spare him the pain of crumpled wings.

Yuugi's friends were in danger. He gathered himself up, his wings were numb and useless. Damnit. He couldn't get back to the top of the building without expending more shadow magic than he could afford. Besides, it'd only be to kick Tatsuki some, the shadows he'd thrown would poison him numb anyway. He staggered to his feet, calling shadow magic to give him strength. He withdrew his wings into his back, back into the tattoo, and started running towards the game shop, praying he wouldn't be too late.

* * *

Jounouchi groaned clutching his head as his brain tried to pound its way out of his skull. Vision was blurry at best, and he ached everywhere. Where was Yuugi? Had they got him too? There's no way he would've slept through that. Shit, where was Grandpa?

"Mr Mutou! Gramps!" He called, voice cracking. He winced, staggering up and on to his feet. He lurched towards the door, body pitching forward, he stumbled, clutching at the door frame. Damn.

"Gramps!" He called again, ears straining. He faintly caught the sound of a pained grunt and he rushed towards it, practically tumbling into the hall and towards the stairs. He gasped in shock, the elder man sprawled at the bottom.

Thank gods for the stairwell light being on. He fell to his knees next to the elder, quickly checking him over. He wasn't beat up, but one of those jerks probably pushed him down the stairs. He didn't look too great. Damn Shadow Reapers.

"Gramps?" He called, nudging the elder. When he got no response, he bit his lip in almost panic, damn he needed a doctor. Phone was next to the kitchen. Right.

He staggered up and leaning against the wall made his way down the hall. He was probably leaving smears of blood all over the wall but that didn't matter. Hospital mattered. Yeah, get Gramps to a hospital. He swore, staggering over his own feet, head still pounding.

"Damnit, Yuug', please don't tell me they got ya too." He was going to get those bastards for this.

He reached the phone, quickly calling the police and ambulance. He'd just put down the phone when the crunch of glass alerted him to the presence of someone in the kitchen. Taking a deep breath, he swung around the door, trying to look as firm and intimidating as possible.

"You back for more you son of a— Yuug'!" He quickly staggered over to his friend.

Shit, he was so white, he was shaking. Oh man, they must've dragged him outside or something. "J-Jounouchi...w-what h-ha-happened?"

His voice was shaking so bad, stuttering.

"It was 'dose Shadow Reaper creeps. They bust in here and took Honda and Anzu, I tried, _we_ tried to fight them off but they were so strong. We scuffled for a bit in the dark and then before I knew it, they were gone, just up and left. I thought they'd got you too! Did they drag ya outside or summat?"

Yuugi shook his head mournfully. "N-No. We sensed s-someone outside. Went to drive them off, but it w-was a t-trick, it was a trick... oh god."

His whole body was shaking. "Yuug', listen to me. You need to go get Honda and Anzu, the Reapers said something about going to get their 'albino' pet too, which means they're probably heading to Ryou and Bakura's. You gotta stop 'em! I've called the cops and them, and they'll get here soon to take care of Gramps but yo—"

"— What did they do to Grandpa!" Yuugi cried, about to lunge from the room. Jounouchi stopped him.

"He'll be fine, one of them prolly just shoved him down the stairs or somethin'."He said, trying to calm him. "But you need to go Yuug'. I can barely walk so I'll stay here with your gramps. Right?"

Yuugi blinked, shaking his head to try focus. It was all spinning away from him. Jounouchi's hands on his shoulders kept him steady. Yami was worried the interior of his container was white, bright white and sterile. This wasn't a good sign for his bearers well being.

Jounouchi gave him a wry smile. "I understand if you don't wanna save Honda, he's annoying but you should at least go rescue your girlfriend." He joked.

"She's not... she's not my girlfriend Jounouchi." Yuugi whispered.

"What? She wouldn't dump ya for not tellin' her about the Raven thing, she loves ya Yuugi."

Like rubbing salt in a wound. "No." He shook his head. This was all too much; he couldn't have this talk now.

"But Anzu she—"

"Doesn't love me." Yuugi interrupted, fist clenching, he pulled away from Jounouchi. His heart thundered. The tattoo was flaring on his back but he wasn't changing into Yami, the tattoos were still on his body from before, but they felt like they could glow now.

"I'll talk to her after, I'm sure she's just upset you didn't tell her or something, you know girls."Jounouchi said perplexed. Wasn't there more important things though?

"Don't."

"She does love you though Yuugi, one day you'll get married and all that, but before that you gotta go save her." A light joke. The response he got was nowhere near what he was expecting.

"No!" He yelled, eyes watering, but god he refused to cry. Not now.

"But Yuu-"

"No!" He screamed, his friend falling silent, watching his tensed form. He hadn't seen Yuugi this riled, this upset, at any time that he could remember in the current circumstances. He'd faced death, faced gaps that bridges won't cross and been caught in between them, and he had never been as emotional as he was presently. There was defeat in the slouch of his shoulders, his fist was scrunched tight, pressing on the table top.

"Jounouchi please, just… don't." He continued quietly, voice tight with restrained pain, body slowly easing into the relaxed stance of the condemned. The sirens wailed louder in the distance and he tensed again.

"Yuugi I don't understand! Anzu really does lo-"

"No!" He all but roared, fist slamming on the table, eyes firmly shut against tears. There was pain in his voice as he continued to yell. "She doesn't love me!"

He swivelled, staring directly at his blonde friend, his eyes desperate and sad. "She wants him."

It all swirled in his mind and made sense. Damnit, that tattoo was really fucking with Yuugi's life. He reached forward to put his hand on Yuugi's shoulder, but the contact burned and with a startled hiss he pulled his hand away.

"You shouldn't touch me right now." Yuugi's voice whispered, deathly quiet. "I should go."

Jounouchi licked his lips. "Yeah, I'll take care of Gramps for you."

Yuugi nodded once, slowly. The air seemed to crackle around him. He'd never seen Yuugi like this. Was this the tattoo doing this to him? Before he even had one ounce of the courage to voice that question, Yuugi had vanished out the door, sirens wailing ever closer. He closed his eyes, leaning against the wall, exhausted.

How was he going to explain this to the fuzz?

* * *

Yami swore from inside his container. He was standing at its centre, using shadows to raise himself from the ground just a little. The walls were white and burning hot. Thick dark shadows scurried along the surfaces. The air was so humid it was like breathing water, his eyes were closed because the light was so blinding he couldn't bear to keep them open.

His bearer's emotions were spiralling out of control. He had no control on himself, no mental discipline to help cope with these kinds of situations. The past few days were killing his insides, and Yami hadn't helped. It was just like when someone went into a fit of rage, in control and completely out of it, except things were being made worse. The confusion, pain, guilt, and terrible anger were fusing with the tattoo. It was now so hot and well fed on light and raw energy that it didn't need Yami to help maintain control. Yuugi's conscious was retreating and his emotions were fusing with shadows to create and violent reaction.

This was so bad. He was going to end up killing himself if this continued. The light inside Yuugi's soul was raging out of control. He couldn't even reach Yuugi at this stage, he was pretty sure that if Yuugi wasn't calmed soon he'd be expelled out of Yuugi's body to exist solely in the tattoo where he'd be vulnerable. Inside Yuugi no one could reach him, but in the tattoo anyone with some real shadow knowledge could, and if he was taken from Yuugi then when Yuugi was calm and that tattoo activated next, he wouldn't be there to control the shadows in anyway and they'd probably rampage out of control and end up killing Yuugi anyway.

Was this all part of the boss's plan? No, he couldn't have known about Anzu, he couldn't have known about him... no. There was no possible way.

Pain raced down his spine, wings bursting from his back and straining. He grit his teeth. What Yuugi was doing was even affecting _him_. He'd never had wings in his container. Not that he'd tried as it would be fairly pointless. They ached and strained, trying to expel energy but unable to. He grunted in pain, his concentration on remaining off the floor weakening for a moment. He cried out as soon as the pads of his feet hit floor. It burned. Gods.

He used his wings to push up and then concentrated on the shadows once more. His wings were fairly useless in here, not to mention they were just stretching themselves beyond limit and not really moving. That single wing beat had been hard enough to manage, and it was only from painful instinct that he got them to obey.

His breath misted before him. Even as the walls burned the air froze. This was so not good.

"Yuugi!" He cried, trying to contact his bearer. "Yuugi _please!_ "

He couldn't even feel his hosts mind anymore. He'd been completely overwhelmed. The cold air tore his throat. "Yuugi answer me"

Nothing. Harsh cold stung his closed eyes, the light blinding. Where was his bearer? This couldn't be it, this couldn't...

'_Yuugi!"_


	9. Ch8 Water Over The Bridge

**Title:** The Black Tattoo  
**Author:** SilverWing147  
**Part:** 8/?  
**Rating:** PG  
**Warning:** AU, BL  
**Pairing:** eventual YYxY, YxA, other pairings yet to be realised.  
**Summary:** He didn't know when it came, or where from, but he'd been cursed with a mark on his back. A tattoo of a pyramid with an Egyptian eye, a black tattoo. What some people call a hero, and others a menace, emerges under the name of The Black Raven, and Yuugi's life has never been more complicated.

A/N: Only one or two more chapters to go, making this the shortest story with chapters I've ever "published". I'm really sorry for the huge delay but there some massive re-writes and life hassles.

* * *

Ch8. Water Over the Bridge

White.

While naturally people assume it to be of a nice and welcoming nature, a colour of peace, at times it's cold and barren. This is not always the case. It was everywhere, this... this white. He could taste it on his tongue, see it, smell it, feel it, hear it. White. It was scary. What had happened to him?

Where was Yami?

* * *

"Ryou! Ryou!"

It had been just under half an hour since they'd arrived at Ryou's house. At first there had been confusion, they just walked in, no secrecy, but seeing Ryou tied in a corner was the answer to that confusion. They'd been here first. Captured Ryou and Bakura already, except where was Bakura?

She didn't really expect Ryou to answer as he was gagged as well as tied, but he saw her and his eyes went frantic, desperately trying to tell her something, exclaim in horror, surprise or yell at her captives. Something.

"Now if you're not quiet, you'll end up like little Rykin's here." One of the Reapers sneered into her ear before tossing her down next to her tied friend. Honda was dumped next to her; his unconscious form slumped against the wall, head hanging lifeless from his shoulders. He had a gash over his eye and she knew he was bleeding in a few places. It wasn't good, for any of them.

She hadn't seen Yuugi since they'd gone to bed and Jounouchi was still unconscious at the house. On the plus side at least they found Ryou. But where on earth was Bakura? There's no way he'd let anyone kidnap Ryou without putting up a fight... she bit her lip as a dreaded thought swept across her mind. What if they'd killed him?

The Reapers exited the room, slamming the door shut behind them, leaving them completely bound in the dark. Light still shone in from the street lamp outside, filtering in through the gaps in the blinds, enough that she could see the rest of the room.

She was helpless. She hated that. She couldn't even help Honda or remove the gag from Ryou's mouth, she could barely move in these ropes. They were probably magicked with shadows or something.

What was going on here? She took a deep breath, steeling herself. She just had to be patient; Yuugi would come soon and help them... if Yuugi was okay still. Who knows what they did to him while they were downstairs.

* * *

It was so quiet you could hear the breeze murmuring through the leaves. You could hear the hushed voices of shadow reapers too buzzed on adrenaline to remain silent. Light was flooding out from the lounge room windows and spilling onto the street. His whole body was tensed with what was to come.

They had made sure to mention them coming here when the blonde guy was there to hear them, the Black Raven was sure to be on his way, and he couldn't let him get the jump on them. Tatsuki hadn't come back yet, so there was little doubt that the Black Raven had conquered him as he had every other reaper. But the boss would get him.

He tried to suppress the chill that ran down his spine. Their leader was so strong it was terrifying, and providing him with those innocent light-filled people, had only increased his power. His eyes were always dark with a sort of madness, and he seemed constantly filled to the brim with shadows. It was unnerving just to be around him.

He sighed. The rest of the Reapers were hungry for some of that shadow. He himself was just curious, not to mention too afraid to disobey.

Suddenly something sparked along his senses. His shadows, which had been spread to alert him of the area surrounding the house, recoiled. He flinched; they felt as though they were being burnt. They cringed away from whatever it was causing this reaction, shrieking in dislike and retreating back.

"What the..." His shadows had never done this before. A wave of power washed over him; nauseating, and strong enough to make his teeth ache.

"Guys!" He called back into the house, taking up a bracing stance in response to the threat. Fear quivered in him at the feeling of the being getting closer to the house. Speeding closer.

His eyes strained to see what suddenly became clear. Wings as dark as the bottom of a well in the middle of a moonless night, black and wickedly curved tattoo's laced with golden and purple veins, the gold so bright it was practically white. Terror washed over him, and briefly timed stopped as he was suddenly face to terrifying face with the Black Raven. There were wicked tattoo's stretching up his neck, his eyes were a hauntingly blank white. No iris, no pupil, just as white as the centre of a star, frightening and foreign.

He gasped in shock and fear, instinctively raising shadows to shield, but was too slow. He was suddenly flying from the patio, pushed away only with the air from those powerful wings. His head cracked to the pavement and it all faded away to black, mind still blank with the horror of that sightless gaze.

He'd always heard the Raven had narrow red eyes; this was far more frightening than he'd ever envisioned those red eyes to be.

* * *

She'd heard the thud resonate through the house. It happened in a breath. The door bursting open and every single Shadow Reaper pausing to turn as though stuck in slow motion, towards the door. In the next breath they were being hurtled back, shock plastered to their faces. The next breath and more were flying, hitting the wall with a sickening crack or thud. In the last breath the room was still.

Her heart pounded like it wanted to escape her chest, mad with the desire to flee her body because she was sure her body was in some sort of mortal danger. There was a choking kind of feeling in the air. Suddenly it felt like the very shadows created by the clothes on her body and the fall of the light, were growing heavier, as though wet. She glanced around to Ryou. His eyes were wide and unblinking as he stared in fear at the doorway.

A saviour or something worse?

Her breath stilled as she watched the doorway intently, ears straining to hear footsteps. Closer. Closer. Closer and closer and...

She let out a gasp. "Yuugi!"

He was covered in the tattoo's she associated with the Black Raven, his eyes terrifyingly white and sightless. His hair was entirely black; none of the blonde that was usually hanging around his face was present. His mouth, usually soft and smiling was set in a hard and hate filled fine, brow furrowed into a terrible expression of pain, anger, and vindictiveness.

It was scary.

"Y-Yuugi?" Her voice quivered fearfully.

He looked at her. She felt small and her fear increased under that penetrating gaze. He took a deliberate step forward, face hard and unchanged. She quivered.

As he came closer the tension in the room seemed to multiply endlessly, until finally it was broken by a laugh. The voice was rough, slightly gravelly, and painfully familiar.

Ryou's eyes widened spotting the man leaning in the doorway, cringing back against the wall as much as his bonds would allow him to. Anzu's eyes tore away from Yuugi to stare at the man, gasping in shock as her heart panged with hope. Even yuugi turned slowly to gaze at him, expression unchanged.

"Ba-Bakura! Come untie us quick!" She yelled, looking over at him in hope. She froze as he smiled and shook his head.

"Why would I untie my own captive?" He jeered.

"W-What?" Disbelief settled in.

"Tch, look Ryousie's not begging for a hand, he knows. Follow the example sweet heart; I have business to discuss with my good friend here." He said, turning to Yuugi and looking him over with a critical eye. "Hmm, it feels like he's almost out, just need a little more of a push, eh?"

Her heart filled with dread, lurching as Bakura walked towards her, a wicked smile on his face. Yuugi watched, suspicious and angry as Bakura picked Anzu up, using his shadows to smartly break the rope tying her feet and legs. She tried to push away from him but it felt like he was a million times stronger than she was. Ryou gave a muffled yell from his place just beside her.

"Yuugi!" Bakura called. "Watch." He demanded.

She struggled, even if it was a futile attempt. He gripped her by her hair, pulling her head back, bearing her throat. She swallowed hard, breathing fast, heart pounding. He reached around her neck, finding the necklace that Yuugi had given her. She tried to struggle again but a sharp pull to her hair stilled her. The chain bit into her skin as he roughly pulled it, in one quick motion snapping the chain.

"Is it not funny how she still wears it Yuugi? She doesn't covet you, but does covet the items you give her. I saw her you know, staring after the Black Raven like some love sick girl, all the while she still had you. How very greedy, wouldn't you say?" Bakura sneered. "How cruel of her, wearing this reminder, should we punish her?" A wicked smile.

Anuz's eyes grew tearful with helpless fear. What could she do? She was captive to a man they all assumed to be a friend, Yuugi wasn't even Yuugi anymore, and Honda was still unconscious. No one could help her, she couldn't even help herself. Desperate fear, petrified, tears slid from her eyes, she whimpered at the sting in the back of her scalp from the pull of her hair, terror from the suggestion of punishment making her tremble.

He laughed, a cruel sound as he tossed her back to the wall. Her head cracking painfully and she slid to the floor in a heap. He was so strong. He still dangled her necklace from his fingers in taunt.

"Yuugi!" She cried out.

Yuugi growled, an inhuman sound escaping his throat.

"What will you do now Mutou Yuugi?" Bakura goaded. "I've hurt all your friends; not to mention poor Ryousie here hasn't eaten in days. Have you Ryousie?" He said, using the pet name constantly, smiling at Ryou's cringe.

For the first time since the terrible transformation, Yuugi spoke; his once gentle tones were now spiked with malicious glee and venomous hatred. "I'm going to kill you." He whispered. "I hate you, I'm going to kill you."

Bakura smiled. "That's it."

A scream tore Yuugi throat, blinding pain erupting from in his body. It felt as though something in his chest was being dislodged, sliding through the muscle with that sickening feeling of choking on it, like when you swallowed something whole. It was large and painful, moving towards his spine, towards the tattoo. He heard a scream, his own? Pain. More shadows flocked him, more light, it burnt everywhere. So white.

* * *

"_Yuugi!"_ He screamed.

He knew it was useless to scream out for his bearer like this, but he couldn't control it. His container was shifting. Moving towards the tattoo as the shadows started to fill Yuugi's chest, forcing his container away.

He could feel Yuugi's anger, pain, sorrow, confusion, that tremor of jealousy, the sparkle of love that was being doused by all these negative emotions rushing and enhanced by shadows. His container lurched, and he screamed as his side made contact with a wall, spiritual flesh burning. It hurt even more because the skin was already prickling and blue with cold. This was torture. Far worse than what he'd endured merely existing in the shadows.

He cried out again as the container rocked, he could only buffet himself so much using his magic, the pain and confusion was coursing through even the shadows. It was a toll on even his mind to focus the shadows on one goal. They were running rampant! He could even feel the ones within his own spiritual body stirring in reaction to the turbulence of his bearer.

"Yuugi!" The scream was almost involuntary. Ripping free with every new injury.

His eyes shot open and were instantly assaulted by blinding light. He cried out once more in pain, the light burning his eyes. He quickly shut them, covering them with one frozen and singed arm.

"Please!" He begged with the walls, the shadows, and the small dot of awareness of Yuugi's mind he had. "Yuugi! If thou can hear me, please I promise all will be well! I promise! Thou need not be divided!"

He pulled himself closer, tucking arms and legs in, wings still bursting to full extent, straining painfully so that it was hard to keep concentration. If Yuugi didn't calm down soon, he was going to be expelled into the tattoo and Yuugi would be completely and utterly vulnerable and alone in his feelings.

"Bearer!" He called again. "_Yuugi!_"

He didn't want to be expelled, he didn't want this, for as much as he tried to believe that Yuugi needed him more than anything else, that Yuugi needed him to defend him constantly, that Yuugi needed him to protect and watch over him, that, that... that Yuugi wanted him, and needed him to be there. In all honesty, it was the other way around. Yuugi was his bearer, but Yuugi didn't truly need him. He coveted Yuugi, wanted him, and he never wanted his time as being part of Yuugi to end. He _needed_ Yuugi, to be strong, and bright and, and, Yuugi. He needed Yuugi to be Yuugi. He'd felt him grow, and then he'd had the chance to watch him, and then to talk to him, to feel the sweet brush of his mind, the tremble in his heart with the fear of a nightmare, the soft gratitude when he protected them without murder. He relished every inch of Yuugi.

"Yuugi! Yuugi please... _I need you!"_

* * *

He lunged forward, lashing out in pain and anger. Bakura was flung back, shock barely registering on his face before he was flung into the wall and lashed at with shadows. This wasn't the plan. Everything was skewed.

"Yuugi!" Anzu cried again, heart clenching as Yuugi roared, eyes glowing, face pale and tattoo's darker than nothingness, everything twisted in a mask of pain. "_Yuugi please_!" She cried.

'_Yuugi!'_ A voice from that painful moving thing in his chest. Yami? '_Yuugi please..._I need you_!'_

Yami?

Exhaustion swept over him in waves. What was he... what was he doing. He lashed out at Bakura again sending him flying to the other end of the room, while he tried to block feeble, still shocked with the drastic error in his plan. It wasn't supposed to happen this way!

What was, '_Yuugi!'_ The scream was pain filled and terrified. What was going on? He... It felt like he was floating in white, but there were grey blotches, blooming sounds. Anzu, she was in danger. Anger swelled, supernaturally swift and powerful. No. He wasn't... he wasn't this! No more of this.

He hurt everywhere. The movement in his chest stopped, the dislodged piece sliding back to the empty cavity it had always occupied. There was a humming in his head. He could hear them now. He couldn't before, he only listened, didn't hear. The shadows were screaming, all fuelled with his pain, but he wasn't a slave to this. He wasn't... he wasn't violent and careless...he wasn't anything like this, he wasn't... he wasn't. He was Yuugi...wasn't he? The bearer of the Black Tattoo, a curse and a blessing. He was Yami's bearer, he was... Yuugi.

"_Yuugi what's this mark?"_

"_What mark grandpa?" the young boy said pausing in putting his shirt on, worried when the old man stared intently at his back, frowning. "Grandpa?"_

_The old man stared his fingers tracing over edge of what appeared to be a black tattoo, eyes wide with horror. There on his grandsons back was the shape of a pyramid, a tribal Egyptian eye staring at him from its centre. It seemed to radiate energy as he continued to stare. No… it couldn't be._

He wasn't a slave to a dark mark on his back. He wasn't. He wasn't a puppet to Yami, he was an equal.

He could overcome this.

He screamed. The sound filling every pore, resonating in his chest, and he fought back. Shadows, light, dark, pain and all. He wasn't this, he was Yuugi Mutou.

'_Yuugi.'_ The voice a cool breath over his overly heated form. He could still hear the whisper of pain in Yami's voice.

'_I'm sorry, Yami.'_ He said exhausted. His body collapsing, eyes closing and soul retreating back to the cool puff of air and smooth warmth that was Yami.

"No! I don't want to hurt you! I want Mars! Mars, you undead bastard! Stop hiding in your host so I can finally kill you!" Bakura screamed, sputtering, wiping blood from his lip as he staggered to his feet.

"Yuugi." Anzu cried out. The marks on her friends body were fading to something not nearly so dark, the colour in his eyes were returning even as the closed, and she watched as he slowly crumpled to the ground, his mouth soft once again.

She heard a groan from beside her, Honda slowly coming too.

"Honda! Honda untie me!" She cried, writhing on the floor to get into a seated position, finding it difficult with her hands behind her back.

He groaned, eyes slipping into focus. The room was a battle zone. The walls cracked, blood in some places, Yuugi lying face down on the ground, the wings on his back shuddering slightly with every heave of his small lungs. Bakura was slowly getting to his feet, beaten badly and bruised, face a mask of pure hatred and anger. Ryou was tied and gagged, and Anzu lying on the ground tied. Furniture was upturned and flung against the wall.

What had he missed? He quickly untied Anzu who ran forward to Yuugi. Meanwhile he ungagged Ryou who breathed relief, licking the corners of his red raw lips. Trying to rewet his mouth.

"What's going on?" He asked, as he started to work on Ryou's ankles, Ryou rolling his wrists and rubbing his hands. He'd been tied like that for practically days at a time.

Ryou opened his mouth to speak but was beaten to the punch line by a very angry Bakura who staggered forward. "I've been waiting for _decades_ for this moment, you're not taking away this opportunity. I will find a way to pull you out of there Mars."

Anzu looked up at him from her crouched position beside Yuugi, trying desperately to wake him up, but he didn't move. "Yuugi?" She asked softly shaking slightly as Bakura lurched towards them.

* * *

"Yami?" Yuugi shook. He couldn't move his body anymore.

"Bearer, art thou unhurt ?" He murmured. "I'm sorry I could not help thee when thou needed me most. I was useless." Regret tinted him.

"No Yami, I'm sorry." He felt so guilty and scared. He could see marks littering Yami's paler-than-usual skin, his eyes bloodshot from over exposure to light, clothes charred slightly, and lips blue with cold. Yami held out his arms to him, grabbing his two biceps and giving a slight tug as though to make sure that Yuugi knew what he was offering, that he was there and stable and something to cling to should Yuugi desire to.

He shuddered miserably, and easily collapsed into the offered hug. "What am I going to do Yami? I can't move and Bakura, Bakura's the boss of all those Shadow Reapers, and I think I've killed so many of them and Anzu, Honda and Ryou are still captives and Bakura, what will Bakura do to them, what's he going to do while I can't move, am I ever going to get better? Why... what happened to me, what...happened, I couldn't, I just couldn't control it. I was so, so _angry_ and confused and upset and I just I wanted to help them all and you and Anzu, and I just, I didn't know what to do and then they hurt Grandpa, Yami! They hurt an old man, and Jounouchi was all beaten up, and Anzu and Honda had been kidnapped, and I, I was just so, so angry that I , I couldn't, I can't even really remember what I did but, but, Why?! Why was I, did I, why Yami?" He was so exhausted.

"Yuugi. Thy emotions became so turbulent that thou could no longer suppress them, eventually they erupted, but something rather unique happened. Thy feelings fused with the Shadow to create what thou was, an instinctual being, all power and emotion. It is not thy fault." He soothed.

"I don't want to be like that again. I'm so sorry Yami, you're hurt and it was my fault."

"It is fine bearer, I am fine. Do not worry. As long as thou art well, as am I." Yami reassured.

"But you're burnt and I can still feel you shaking from cold." He argued.

"I would not say that I would go through it again in a heartbeat, but if it meant that I may keep thee, I would endure much more than this."

Yuugi's eyes teared and he tightened his hold around Yami. "Thank you." He whispered fiercely into the fabric of Yami's shirt, his heart stirring and mind whirring, guilt lifting slightly and the press of the world became less and less with every drop of water to leak from his eyes. The problems became more manageable if still utterly impossible.

Yami's arms tightened around him in response, the gentle squeeze saying more than words could. He sighed, but the problems were all still there, glaring defiantly as he tentatively reached his mind to his body and found it exhausted, the whisper of Anzu calling to him a harsh wake up to reality. He couldn't hide in here with Yami forever.

"What are we going to do about-" His voice as tired as his heart, but he was gently shushed by Yami who smiled at him, expression bitter sweet.

"I do not wish to ask this of thee, but I feel that if thou knew it could be done, thou wouldst request it of me. "

"I'll do it." Yuugi said firmly.

"I knew thou would."

* * *

Yami seized control.

The body's muscles were so weak they couldn't even supply the energy to lift his arm. All that raw power had taken a great toll on Yuugi's body, and the only way to continue fighting was to use more shadows. Yuugi would probably be bed ridden for weeks after this, but it was necessary. They would wrap the shadows of the tattoo around every inch of his body, and control those shadows to move the body, as though it were a puppet.

It required a lot of energy, but Yuugi's light was more than capable of providing it, it was the tax on his body that would eventually slow them. He just hoped that Yuugi didn't fall too far into shadow while calling so many shadows.

He heard Anzu gasp beside him as he easily rose to his feet, red eyes narrowed to glare at Bakura. Anger sparked in him, but he controlled it. "Bakura," even his voice had to be amplified by shadows, "why didst thou attack us?"

Bakura chuckled weakly. "Haven't learnt to speak yet properly, Mars?"

Something twinged in Yami's memory, could that possibly be... "Who art thou talking about?"

"Don't joke with me." Bakura's eyes narrowed. "I know that shadow signature anywhere. You're Mars. I've been looking for you for a _very_ long time. I didn't want to hurt the innocent boy you're coveting so I pushed at his emotions and tried to get you expelled into the tattoo where I could get at you, but being the coward you are you wouldn't let him." He sighed. "It is regrettable, but I will just have to destroy you both."

He suddenly attacked. His shadows blood thirsty, vicious and strong. Yami quickly darted out of the way, hearing a cry from behind him as Honda narrowly avoided being struck. Damnit, he couldn't just dodge.

'_Yuugi, I need more shadow to defend thy friends.'_ He called.

Yuugi silently obliged, nodding consent.

He flared his wings open on either side of his torso, using them to shield those behind him, absorbing or deflecting attacks. He saw an opening. He struck. Bakura flew back and quivered slightly as he attempted to rise again but failed. He moaned miserably in defeat. Now was the time for victory.

He launched himself forward again to attack but was stopped. Something blinding flared across his senses and Ryou was suddenly lying over his lover's chest, staring up at Yami, determination in his gaze.

"No!" His voice was slightly higher. "I won't let you hurt my brother!" His eyes flashed green, a green slid down his back like cold ice. He knew that gaze, he knew those eyes.

"_The witching hour past, and I saw not your shadow at my door."_

It was so long ago. Those green eyes. His mind burned. "Y-You." He stuttered.

Ryou smiled, but it wasn't Ryou. "I'm happy that you remember me." The smile sad and bitterly soft. "My brother calls you Mars, but I never knew your name, we never really met, did we? My name is Anthony Blackstone and decades ago you nearly traded my soul to the dark."

It was like a sledgehammer had dropped from the sky and smashed him on the head. Shock filled his body, and he remembered. Remembered nothing else but that night, that _terrible_ night when he had sacrificed an unwilling soul, and paid for it dearly. He was supposed to have died. He killed that boy, and if it wasn't for the sheer brightness of his soul, it would've been sucked of its light by the shadows and not survived. He deserved to die for that and he knew it.

"N-No, it can't be." His head felt like it was splitting open. Yuugi's mind stirred, brushing against his in worry.

"What's going on?" Anzu's small voice enquired.

"I can't let the Black Raven kill this man." Ryou - or was it Anthony now? - said. "I can't let him kill my brother, or Ryou's lover."

"Wait, but you _are_ Ryou." Honda put in.

He shook his head, and turned to Yami who was looking at him in horror. His crime. "It's been hard for you, hasn't it?" Anthony whispered. "You have been severely punished; the punishment does not seem to suit the crime does it?"

Yami's mouth was dry.

"You've spent a long time in the shadows, but it wasn't supposed to be that way. The dark was going to kill you entirely you know." Grim, blunt truth. Yami nodded. It made sense.

"Dallin," the name was soft with affection. "Dallin is the reason you're still alive. He was there that night. He'd followed those guys on foot, but didn't make it in time to stop you. He saw it all, he found out your name, and he never forgot you, so you never died." A smile.

"I'm sure it wasn't at all intentional. He probably didn't know that by refusing to forget your name and who you were, he was stopping your death. The dark had planned to give you over to the shadows, to let them drain your soul, and when nobody remembered you any longer, you'd have no more ties to the world and you'd be completely consumed. As it was they couldn't entirely kill you, even after the death of my brother. Though the shadows must've tried." A soft pitying look. "They would've taken every part of your life away, but because of my brother, wouldn't have faded as you should. After Dall passed away his obsession gained new life, embedding itself within the shadows that are always with his soul throughout each rebirth. This obsession lay dormant within the soul, intermingled with the shadows, and there they both stayed; unrealised, dormant within his soul, but when you were attached to the tattoo and came back to the physical world..."

"I woke them." Yami whispered. He remembered. When he was at his strongest, just before the tattoo was activated, Yuugi's friend Bakura had been sick! It was the shadows stirring. They could feel his own shadows as they also grew stronger. And when they had fetched that present for Anzu, when Yuugi had his back to Bakura, the tattoo was only covered with a veil of material, which must've been what cause that odd look, and the sneeze. And once he had started using his shadows, that's when the Reapers first started to appear and started taking innocent people.

It was his entire fault. If he had stayed dormant, even if the tattoo had been activated, if he hadn't been so blood thirsty, using the shadows to set fire to buildings and beat common thugs, then he wouldn't have been noticeable enough to stir up the shadows in Bakura's soul as much as he had.

The room lurched as his grip on the shadows faltered slightly in shock. His control over the body via the shadows weakened and he nearly crumpled back to the ground. His one mistake had caused all this chaos and pain.

"I'm sorry." He whispered, staring into those bright green eyes. They brimmed with soft understanding and unearthly knowledge.

"I know." Sincerity. "You've suffered more for your crime than anyone has or should." It wasn't entirely forgiveness, but it was acknowledgement. Yami had paid over his fair share in penance.

"A-Anthony?" A gasping wheeze.

"I'm here brother." He answered.

"H-He killed you Anthony, I'm sorry, he killed you. I'll kill him, for what he has done." Bakura turned Dallin coughed, struggling to get back up, but he was held in place by his brother.

"No Dall. You need to let this go." Anthony pleaded.

Dallin shook his head furiously, pushing out with shadow and weak muscle to send Anthony flying. Anthony landed on the ground with a grunt.

"No." Dallin hissed. The shadows twisted and he was pulled to his feet by them. "No, he killed you. I saw it, I _saw_ him sacrifice you! You need to be avenged."

Anthony's eyes filled with a pain that couldn't be inflicted with shadows and punches. Yami leapt back, narrowly dodging a strike. He wanted to counter but, Anthony didn't want Bakura or Dallin hurt, but that wasn't Dallin. He didn't recognise the name, not that he really expected himself to. Dallin probably discovered his name from one of the few he knew it if he was truly that obsessed.

"Anthony." He called, dodging again, the shadows narrowly brushing his arm and singeing the hairs that hadn't already been singed with the heat of his own shadows. "That man be not Dallin nor be it Bakura. Thou said it thyself; Dallin's obsession with my end was imprinted upon the shadows. This is merely an aspect of his mind the shadows are mimicking. They know nothing but to kill me."

"It hurts." A tear dripped miserably from Anthony's eye. "He looks just as Dallin did, and Ryou fears for Bakura so."

Yami sympathised with him for his suffering, but now he was stuck. How was he going to take this maniac out without killing Bakura?

Purging him of his shadows when they were so encrypted to his soul, would be difficult and painful. Not to mention it would require mass amounts of energy. The easiest way would be if Bakura was unconscious, but considering there was no mind to blank out and he was basically fighting shadows, that wouldn't work. The sheer amount of shadows... he'd never called anything that big! Could he let himself take that risk, could he let Yuugi's body be conduit to that power, without crippling him? No. There had to be a better way.

'_Yami.'_ Yuugi voice brushed over his mind, though a little more distant than it was usually due to the shadow calling he was already doing.

He knew what Yuugi was going to say, but he really didn't want to. The damage it could do. He'd be bed ridden for more than a month, if he was lucky. And the risk to Yuugi's soul, he knew that he'd said that Yuugi's light was boundless, and theoretically it would never run out, but he didn't want to push the boundaries, and even if it truly was boundless that wouldn't stop the shadows from dragging him out into the dark, his light would keep him alive but... not enough to keep consciousness and they'd relish this sort of continual energy. He couldn't risk it. He didn't want to risk the beauty of Yuugi's soul on something like this. He was sure, maybe some more time, he'd think of a better answer, a not-dangerous-to-my-bearer answer.

'_Yami it's okay.'_ Yuugi reassured him. '_We don't have time to explore all the possibilities, we just have to act.'_

'_Promise me, that if thy light starts waning, if it is too much, that thou will stop.'_

'_I will.'_ Yuugi agreed without hesitation, and it was all Yami could do to believe him.

He launched a counter attack. He struck arms and leg, no torso shots. Bakura could live with broken legs and arms, ribs and punctured internal organs were another matter. Dallin responded furiously. Shadows tore and screamed in the air as they leapt towards Yami. Thinking quickly he swept Anzu, Honda and Anthony into a protected corner, rolling out of the way of the blow, the shadows searing the spot where the friends had once been. He leapt forward, deflecting shadow with his wings, twitching slightly as the powerful blasts exploded against the counterfeit feathers. He grabbed and pinned Dallin, using his shadows to hold down the captive, shielding himself as much as he could from the shadows with his feathers. His own shadows pierced the pale flesh of the set of captive arms in two places, slipping into the veins to purge the system.

A piercing scream and a nauseating wave of shadow pressed back against him, fighting off the foreign shadow. He was panting, body shuddering as he pressed more effort, more shadow, into forcing the stubborn shadows of Dallin to relinquish their hold.

Anzu sat staring in morbid fascination at the scene before her. Ryou and Bakura's living room was in tatters, scorch marks littering the walls, ceiling and carpet. Unearthly screams burst from Bakura's throat as his body thrashed beneath that of the Black Raven's who remained steady atop the squirming man. Tentacles of what appeared to be the darkest tar she'd ever seen, were lashing at the set of black wings cocooned around the Black Raven, stray feathers flung free and slightly charred.

She grouped blindly for Honda's hand as they both stared at the still battle before them. The screams were terrible and frightening, the shadows violent and merciless, whipping against those black feathers. The very air crackled with some akin to electricity, and there was a weight to it. It was so _heavy_.

It felt as though bricks were slowly being lowered onto her shoulders and into her chest. The air thrummed, as though it had a pulse, thick and silencing. But not silencing enough as those inhumane screams kept tearing from Bakura's throat.

Anthony shuddered, and then sighed. "The Dark." He whispered, as though afraid to speak too loudly.

Anzu had a moment of confusion before something slid into her mouth; it was like, air but solid. It filled her mouth until she could only just breathe. Panicked she looked over to Honda who seemed to be suffering the same fate, gagging slightly as he tried to make sound around the tentacle of air.

It felt as though the colour was slipping from the room as she continued to stare at Bakura and the Black Raven. It was bleeding into them and turning into black and white. The colour was dying and all sound but for Bakura's screams vanished. What was going on?!

* * *

Yuugi knew he was taking a risk, a risk he wasn't sure he could really afford to lose out on, but he had to take it. His options were limited, and these limitations were pushing him into the dark alleyway of this decision. He shouldn't rely on it to be okay, but maybe at the other end of the alleyway there would be a wider street, maybe even with streetlamps and no dark looming figures of dire consequence. Maybe. He'd promised Yami but... he couldn't risk his friends.

He let go of control completely and fell into the darkness of the shadows, forgetting all contact with his body and what reality lay there. Cold lapped at his sides in the icy caress of blue flame, shadows flooded into his mind. '_More magic'_ he thought '_We need more shadows'_. He repeated it like a mantra, using it to keep hold of who Yuugi was; an obsession not a light spark to be stolen and swallowed, the volatile nature of life. He kept sane, kept awareness of himself, and with that one thought pushed the shadows towards Yami.

He grew weaker and weaker with the strain that existing in the shadows created, but kept the thought strong. It was cold. Dark. There was this feeling that made him quake, one powerful omnipotent entity surrounding him. He was inhaling it, touching it, being touched by it, it was in his hair, his skin, his blood, he could see it, taste it, and it could see him, every last particle. It was everywhere outside and within him. It hummed in his mind, whispered in his ear, and robbed him of his senses. It pulled at him to answer, to give in to it, so strong and ancient. '_We need more shadows, we need... we need more shadows.'_ over and over.

* * *

Yami was trying to suppress fear at the chills racing down his spine. There was a soft press around him from every angle, and even as he worked the shadows against Dallin, they purred. The Dark. He knew this feeling without remembering, and was afraid of it.

He fought it back, concentrating on the purge, pressing forward and forward stronger shadows pulsing in his veins and bleeding into Bakura pushing Dallin out as the other tried to cling to the light like a dark smudge on the moon. Yuugi was becoming more distant as the amount of shadows and shadow strength increased. He pushed the fear away. _Concentrate_.

The words came to him. They were soundless, but he muttered them anyway. A memory he could remember pushing the words out of his lips. Yes. This was dark calling. Dark dealing. This time no arrogance, no mistake, he was saving light not banishing it.

He pushed harder, forcing more shadow in until he felt like they would explode form the vein. He pushed back against Dallin's shadow energy and it screamed and thrashed with desperation. It knew that it was almost out and it was sending it wild.

The words came to him so easily, and he knew it. He knew it as though he could still remember all the hours he'd spent in the dark, reading by candles, studying the dark, the shadows. He knew what came next, what was going on and plead that his prayer, his chant to the dark was heard and answered. He pushed with shadows once more, his chanting growing faster and faster but still so soundless. The shadows keep their secrets to themselves, and the dark was the biggest holder of secrets of all. He was not making a sacrifice of a willingly light soul, but offering a horde of shadows that were marring the light of another.

He was doing right.

"I call the dark." He whispered.

Colour and sound faded, his mind filled with a terrible presence and for a minute he feared for a shaft of light, feared for his bearer and for himself. The impression of a laugh and suddenly more shadows were at his fingers, helping him, aiding him, and Dallin was easily lifted.

Something voiceless echoed in his mind. Penance paid. His head swam, the shadows withdrew quickly, colour and sound rushing back. His body burned, the tattoo's were blindingly hot. His wings were tattered and sore, but... the dark was gone.

He glanced over to the corner, body still pulsing with shadow. His vision was fuzzy, swimming in and out of focus but before his eyelids closed, before he crumpled to the ground, his eyes caught a pair of thankful emerald as they receded into chocolate brown and closed.

He smiled slightly to himself and went to retrieve his bearer.

* * *

His fingertips were numb, his legs were numb, he was floating in nothing, body slowly shutting down, spirit gently ebbing and relaxing into non-existence. His eyes were no longer open, and he couldn't tell if he was breathing, but... they needed... Yami needed more magic, he couldn't let them all be... be... He had to stay and feed his body more magic, needed to delve deeper into the darkness. They needed more shadows... they need... more... they needed...shadows.

His mind calmed, the thought growing weaker, fainter, harder to maintain... was his heart beating? He wanted to fight, stretch, flex, cry out, be angry, relentless, obsessed, but instead only peace filled him. Peacefulness settled within him, cold and chaotic as he fell in deeper. '_Yami...'_

"I'm here, bearer."

Suddenly he could feel himself growing heavier, not lighter. Sensation was spreading downward from his mind, and it was growing clearer. '_We need more shadows.'_

"No bearer. Our enemy hath fallen, we need no more shadows."

Yami... that was Yami. He pushed his eyes open, and cringed back. It was all dark! His heart thundered, but he forced himself to open his eyes again, feeling returning to his waist and arms. He opened his eyes and squinted through inky blackness. There was a faint shape growing clearer, someone holding his hand, dragging him out as the shadows clung to his skin. His hand was warm, surrounded by Yami's, it was Yami. He felt relief stir hesitantly as he was dragged up further and further towards warmth and a glowing grey.

"That was close."

Yami's voice was rich with relief, warm and soothing. He spoke gently, quietly as he pulled Yuugi closer to his chest, wrapping his arms around Yuugi's frigid body. The embrace was smooth and strong, yet trembling with release from the fear that had flooded Yami's mind when he couldn't find his bearers conscious.

Yuugi had never been so glad to see Yami, wrapped his arms around him, and coughed lightly to hide tears.

There was a suddenly drag on his body. Sheer exhaustion called him into sweet oblivious arms. Still nestled with Yami's shaking arms, he closed his eyes.

* * *

"_Heba!"_

_A young boy in his teens tossed his hair back from his eyes, glancing over his shoulder to one of the advisors to the pharaoh._

"_Yes Mahaad?" He asked quietly._

_Mahaad, was one of his favourite advisors, practically a childhood friend as he'd been with him since he was very young. They were fairly close to being the same age, as he was only just younger than the Pharaoh and Mahaad was only just older than the Pharaoh._

"_Pharaoh wishes an audience with you." Mahaad replied, politely but not unkindly._

_Heba lifted an irate eyebrow, voice slightly annoyed as he asked. "And will I be sharing an audience with the Pharaoh with the rest of the royal court, or his high priests?"_

_Mahaad smiled slightly, the corners of his mouth lifting."No we won't Master Heba. The only other present at with you is ..."_

_Heba sighed and rose to his feet. "Well I'd better not keep Pharaoh and ... waiting. Thanks Mahaad, and I apologise for my shortness. It is not you I am annoyed with."_

_The smile grew. "I know."_

_He smiled in return, and started off down on of the great ornate hallways of the Palace of the Pharaoh. The late afternoon sun was warm against the stone as he trod his way, sandals scuffing and slapping. He wasn't in any great rush to see the Pharaoh, especially if he was to share his audience with ... . He detested anything to do with that creature as they merely could not understand each other, but ... was a new favourite of Pharaoh's. Whispering in his ear during meetings. He shook his head. He didn't trust ... and it was no wonder why, but Pharaoh refused to listen to him._

_Pharaoh Atemu, son of the late and great Ahknenkamun, could be disturbingly stubborn when he chose to be, and usually Heba's influence on certain aspects of Pharaoh Atemu's life could be utilised to get him to listen to reason, but ... had his ear even if Atemu still swore at every rise and fall of the great solar disc, that Heba had his heart._

_Drawing himself up to full height and properness, he opened the door to the Pharaoh's court, his lover seated at its end in his simple throne. The Pharaoh's of Egypt before the rise of Ahknenkamun had always owned ornate thrones of wood, but upon the previous Pharaoh's rise to power he had replaced it with a large stone throne, inlaid with gold and words of rite and power. It was smooth and the seat carved out so as not to be too uncomfortable for the sons of Horus but it was unyielding and everlasting, as a pharaoh is to be._

"_Greetings, Heba." Atemu welcomed, voice smooth and rich as was expected of the son of a god, although they both knew the truth and to whom he belonged. He was as earth bound as the next man, though not as ... was. _

"_Good evening, Pharaoh." Heba responded._

"_Heba I will take him." ... whispered._

"_You may not have him." Heba responded calmly._

"_Heba, I will have him, take him as mine." ... rasped in reply, glowing eyes leering._

"_The shadows may be beneficial to man, but I do not trust ... and I would never let you take Atemu from me." Heba replied, assured._

_The creature laughed, the sound giving him chills. "I am older than light, and as immeasurable as time before time. You think you can stop me?"_

"_Atemu is my soul, I am his soul. Can you swallow a soul as ours?" Heba replied._

"_Such light in you, but Atemu is shadow and mine." ... tried to convince him._

"_I do not need you to be a part of it, and I won't let you take him. Light and afterlife damned, my fate is his and I won't let you take him away from me, you will leave first." Heba's body trembled with conviction even as his tone remained calm._

"_But what of Atemu, what does our brave pharaoh want?"_

_Heba looked at Atemu who trembled upon his stone throne. "Atemu?"_

"_There is no longer need for a king, what am I to you if I am not Pharaoh?" He looked away._

_Heba shook his head, quickly moving to Atemu's side. "You are you." Heba answered simply, grasping Atemu's face in his hands and forcing him to look. But Atemu's eyes kept straying to the welcoming stranger._

"_I am so tired." He sighed._

"_I will welcome you to rest." ... assured him._

"_There's not a life for me with you... is there, precious bearer?" Atemu's voice was heavy._

"_My Grandpa used to tell me that, sometimes you just have to be your own person. If you're living for someone else, you're not really living. If you're going to live, you should live for yourself, live because you want to." Heba said sincerely, offered his hand out to him, a soft smile on his face._

"_Living for living is existence, and only that. Living for yourself, living because you want to or have something you believe worth being alive for, that's what takes the most courage."_

_Atemu smiled. The smile was small, a gentle upward turns of the corners of his mouth, nothing remarkable or dazzling. It was not one of the more expressive, captivatingly secret smiles that Atemu often shared with Heba in their quiet moments away from life. Just small, and simple, but it meant so much more than what there mere expression gave way to. It was an answer. It was an answer. A yes._

"_I will be brave, for thee." And he took his lovers hand, slowly rising from his throne to stand beside his beloved._

_Yuugi smiled, turning back to ... one hand on his hip. Atemu placed his warm hand over his shoulder, his weight a comfort as they stood united."I'm sorry ..., but I don't think I'm ready to lose him."_

"_What a shame Heba." ... laughed. "What a shame. Mars, take care of your bearer."_

_Atemu's grip tightened, and he pulled Yuugi closer to himself, as though in protection. "Yami. He called me Yami, and I will."_

"_I'll see you again, Yuugi."_

"_Goodbye, Dark."_

* * *

A/N:

Small and slight explanation. The ... is meant to symbolise that although they're saying his name, the sound is muffled as the dark keeps its secrets to itself you know. And at the end when Yuugi and Yami have overcome the dream Dark, then they can say its name and yeah, sound comes out. Huzzah.

Sorry for the time delay once again guys. Sorta been doing it a little rough and random lately.


	10. Ch9 Ready Set Go

**Title:** The Black Tattoo  
**Author:** SilverWing147  
**Part:** 9/9  
**Rating:** PG  
**Warning:** AU, BL  
**Pairing:** eventual YYxY, YxA, other pairings yet to be realised.  
**Summary:** He didn't know when it came, or where from, but he'd been cursed with a mark on his back. A tattoo of a pyramid with an Egyptian eye, a black tattoo. What some people call a hero, and others a menace, emerges under the name of The Black Raven, and Yuugi's life has never been more complicated.

A/N: Pleaaaaaaaase don't ask for a sequel or an epilogue or something. This chapter took me soooo long and I'm just... I never want to write another archaic word again and it was a real struggle to force myself to write this chapter.

So don't expect an epilogue, and I know this chapter isn't what it should be, and it's unbeta'd and probably with so many errors, but you won't believe how over writing this story I am.

I deeply apologise for the delay but I've been really really busy.

And without further ado, enjoy the final chapter of "The Black Tattoo".

* * *

Chapter 9. Ready Set Go.

Most babies are crying when they're born, but Yuugi was silent and still.

He had always committed this to memory. His tiny eyelids closed, breathing slow and steady as though he was not quite ready to wake up just yet, his tiny fists loosely curled. He was just like a ragdoll, unmoving and quiet. Technology assured them that while Yuugi didn't cry he ate and drank, that he was nourished even if it was with pipes. His back was cold, the rest of him softly warm. A medical anomaly.

Mutou Surogoku had never forgotten the serene look on that frail baby's face as it continued to sleep on, unaware that it had been born and should be crying, screaming out to return to it's warm sanctuary. His mother had cried and cried, wondering what was wrong with her child, but she was never given an answer, Yuugi merely slept on. It was not unlike currently. His body warm, back cold although this time prickling with energy, face serene as he slept on unaware of the worried eyes constantly watching him for a sign of change and that faint glimmer of hope that maybe, maybe it was all okay.

His wings had receded into his back three days after this seemingly endless sleep began. They had taken it as a sign of recovery, and were relived as they could finally take him to the hospital. And so he lay, in a tangle of wires, delicate, frail, and dwarfed by the machinery and whiteness of the sterile walls. Still and silent as the day he was born.

His heart rate was strong and steady, his lungs inhaling and exhaling without any sort of extra labour. Briefly, jokingly, he entertained the idea of possibly screaming that breakfast was ready and steaming on the table and if Yuugi wanted to eat it hot he was going to have to get out of bed, but a quick look at the machinery attached to his small grandson quickly stole that idea away. No, yelling that breakfast was ready wasn't going to wake his grandson up.

He'd received quite a start when he woke in hospital and been told shortly after that his Grandson and his friends were in the hospital as well, though thankfully only three of them were occupying a bed.

Honda's head injury had cleared up relatively fast, as had Jounouchi's multiple injuries. They'd hurt for a while but eventually the bruising would go down and scars heal without any medical treatment beyond some antiseptic and a band-aid, something for which he was eternally grateful. Anzu had been the first to tell him everything, the terror of an incredibly angry Yuugi, the possession of Bakura and Ryou by their previous life counter-parts Dallin and Anthony, even the identity of Yami as a man once known as Mars. Although she didn't understand the complete mechanics of the situation she could give the basic gist of the thing to the elderly man to ponder as he stared at his Grandson.

As a baby Yuugi had woken up eventually; he'd just have to trust his grandson to pull through. Yuugi would wake when he was ready; they just had to wait until then. He sighed, leaning back into the rests of the chair. He just didn't know how long he could stand the wait.

* * *

"When am I going to wake up?" Yuugi asked, staring at the ceiling of Yami's container in sheer boredom. "I really don't understand this, I've never woken up like this before, I mean, I've just slept like a normal person and woken like a normal person."

"Thou art no longer an ordinary person Yuugi. The ties between thyself and both the tattoo and the shadows have become inexplicably stronger." Yami replied, sprawled on the floor of his container as he usually did, eyes closed and utterly relaxed, once more content to enjoy existence although there was a distinctly nervous, unsettled energy about him.

"And so...?" Yuugi said, somewhat irritated by the lack of information.

"So thy mind has become restless and normally thou wouldst sleep through it, but instead thou hath been drawn away from thy body as it is used to the separation. Thou travelled so deep into shadow that thou aren't as tied to thy body as most mortal beings are."Yami replied listlessly.

Yuugi's mouth formed a small 'o' and he flopped back against the dull grey floor, feeling no change in the temperature between his skin and the ground. It was a strange sensation.

"Will I be able to move when I wake up?"He queried.

Yami shook his head. "If thou could, it would be a miracle."

Yuugi shot a look to the other spirit. Yami was usually so much more... alive, or intimidating or, or something. Usually he was something, something that was usually intense and nerve wracking. Given, he'd never actually been with Yami inside his container before, in a spiritual body instead of just being the brush of minds when they switched, or the intense passion of a solid compression of spirit matter into physical being, but still. He'd at least expected Yami to be more, well, _excited_ to see him. So he was slightly irritated by the profoundness of Yami's inattention as he merely lay with eyes closed on the floor all the time, an air of exhaustion lingering around him although he was past the point of being well-rested.

He huffed quietly, annoyed with Yami, just as he had been in that dream. Speaking of which..."Hey Yami?"

"Mmhmm."

"What was that dream I had before all about? Like, it seemed weird, different from all the other dreams I've ever had. What was with that I kept saying the Dark but I couldn't hear it? The whole thing was weird, I was called two different names, and you had three names, and I swear I've seen Mahaad's face somewhere before I'm just not exactly sure where, but I have a feeling that I have seen it and seen it fairly often. I mean I didn't really used to believe in past lives before but then there was the whole Dallin thing and so my views on that have now been severely warped, so you think it was like a warped memory of a past life, or just some dream created by the shadows? I mean there were enough of them in our body to be doing all kinds of weird things, but then again I don't really know the effects that the shadows would have on those sorts of things. It was a pretty ominous dream though, what do you think it meant? Did you dream it too?" He quickly spat out.

Yami's reply to this was a simple nod, no other muscles moved or flexed or gave any sign of movement or reaction. He paused, giving him time to add more to the simple answer, but Yami said nothing. Exasperated, he continued on.

"Okay so we shared the same dream. What did it mean though? Heba... Heba and Atemu, Mars and the Dark, and Me and You. All in the same dream, who in the heck is Heba anyway? Where did I get that name? And Atemu?! Though it seemed to fit right?" He grunted in frustration, tugging and a blond forelock in agitation. "What was it? It seemed like a memory, and then later like a dream, but in the end, it felt like neither."

Yami sighed."It was an illusion. The crossroads of destiny aren't often a literal crossroad. It was neither dream, nor memory, nor reality, but a combination of all wrapped in illusion. The crossroad to destiny, where thou submit thy choice to the dark." Yami replied, voice deliberate and slow.

"What? Wait... submit a choice to the Dark?" Yuugi asked, brow furrowed in confusion, He propped himself up on one arm, lying on his side now to look down at Yami sprawled on the floor beside him.

Once again Yami nodded.

"But hardly any of that stuff made sense!"

"Read between the lines Yuugi." Yami breathed.

"What do you mean? Argh, you're being so... dead."Yuugi grumbled.

Yami gave a self-depreciating chuckle. "I am dead, Yuugi. Perhaps though, I should be properly dead. What use am I to thee now that thou art able to control shadow and protect thyself? Thou no longer have need of a protector." And Yuugi could hear the echo in his head. Atemu's tired words after the Dark had asked for his decision were ringing through his ears without source. _"There is no longer need for a king, what am I to you if I am not Pharaoh?"_

Something clicked within his mind. A definite, resounding, click as something slid into place and connected perfectly. _Read between the lines_.

"You mean..." Yuugi's throat tightened, unable to finish. If Yami was/is Mars and Atemu and there was a choice, the dark had been there, and, and... that meant, that the dream, the illusion... if it really was a crossroad of destiny, Yami had almost... he'd almost gone to the dark.

"_There's not a life for me with you... is there, precious bearer?"_

"_I am so tired."_

If in that illusion Atemu had truly given into the offer of rest, then would Yami have gone? He was Heba, and Yami was Atemu and what they had said in there must've been the truth and he had... Yami had wanted, had nearly, chosen to die. To fade away and rest as the Dark had offered him, but _he'd _convinced the dark spirit to stay. He'd walked into that room as Heba and staunchly defended him. The Dark had wanted him but Heba, _he_, had stopped him. Yami had a chance to end years and years of suffering. Years of being at the mercy of shadows and later, at the mercy of some teenage boy. He'd had a chance to finally go into the afterlife, he'd redeemed himself in the eyes of the Dark and so was being welcomed into death, a death that was so long overdue. He'd existed for so long, and what Ryou(Anthony?) had said, about what Yami had been through. All this time, the existing in shadows, constantly being ebbed away but unable to die.

A chill ran down his spine as he remembered his short time in the shadows. Their single, ominous, mass filling him; slowly taking away awareness while keeping consciousness. He hadn't even been there long and he shook just thinking about going back there. What must it have been like to exist in something that was constantly dragging at your soul? No life, no body, no memory, no true existence, a hairs breath from completely and utterly ceasing to exist, but never crossing that line. Trapped in limbo. Anthony had said it with such pity, he'd _felt_ Yami's entire mind shake with the thought of it, that longing for an end that never seemed to come. But Yami didn't... he gave it all up.

"You chose to stay." He whispered.

Yami graced him with a crooked smile. Something in the upturned corner of his mouth reminded him of the smile that Atemu had given him (Heba?).

"Of course bearer. I need thee too much to leave." Yami replied.

His mouth was dry. He licked his lips nervously at the declaration. It had never really been this way. His friends would sometimes say that they needed him, but that was only in jest or light hearted situations, none of those times compared to the weight of this. Yami's life or death choice, had hinged on him, and he'd stayed. He'd stayed because Yami needed him. He was truly needed by someone, as a life and death matter. His heart thudded and he tentatively reached out a hand and lay its palm against the inside of Yami's wrist.

"You need me?" He asked, shakily.

"I do." Yami confessed.

His hand clenched instinctively, wrapping around Yami's wrist, hard. "I..." He was at a suddenly loss for words. His mouth opened and closed, but he couldn't get any coherent thought out, but Yami understood and smiled. He was carefully drawn into a single armed hug, half of him lying on Yami as he was coaxed into the position. And so he lay against him, being awed by the choice, the simplicity of the answer. Yami really... he really, he just admitted it, and it was so simple and sincere, he needed him. Not want, _need_.

He didn't know why the answer brought tears to his eyes. The weight of it he supposed, and that nag of indecision he'd kept in his mind. He'd wanted to trust Yami from the start, but his mind had told him it wasn't a good idea. He'd been fighting this want to trust, and really he'd had no need to. Yami, wasn't exactly evil after all, and he wasn't entirely bad. He was completely trustworthy. He hadn't lied, or pretended to be something he wasn't; he was honest.

"I... I need you too Yami." He replied, voice quieter and shakier, but no less sincere. It was true.

Yami's arm tightened around him, pulling him close, and breathing deeply into his chest and back out again. Yami didn't really need to breathe as he was by all means and purposes, dead, but there was something strange in how very slowly he was breathing. That lingering sensation of exhaustion seemed to press into each breath. Yami's eyes weren't in their usual state of guarded brilliance, but instead were somewhat dull as they appraised the grey ceiling sightlessly. Yami didn't even respond to him staring, He just continued to lie motionlessly, staring at the ceiling, breathing ever-so slowly.

In the end he had to ask. "Is something wrong, Yami?"

Yami shook his head, a grimace lightly tainting the stolidness of his expression. "I am fine, it is thee whom _I_ should be worried for."

"What do you mean? I'm fine." He replied, propping himself up a little to stare more directly into Yami's face, watching his eyes slip away from contact with his.

"But thou _weren't _fine, bearer." Yami's voice was quite and yet forcefully hard.

"But I am _now_ Yami. I'm fine. See me, lying here, fine. I don't know why it's bothering you now when I'm okay." Yuugi replied.

Yami shook his head before releasing a quiet admittance. "I was scared for thee."

The arm around Yuugi tensed impulsively. "I was so... I couldn't feel thee... I had thought that maybe, the dark, that thou had fallen too far into shadow." He answered, a slight unsteadiness in his tone, the confident cornerstones of his speech cracking and chipping at their edges. "But thou art well, you are okay, you're here."

His hand tightened and Yuugi understood, neither saying a word more. Together they lay in the quiet, surrounded by soft hums and whispers, a light breeze stirred, drenched in the scent of sweet jasmine and the crispness of the sea, letting it lull him to sleep.

* * *

Often Yuugi had enjoyed a pleasant stream of nightmares that originated from having a malicious anti-evil with shadow magic possessing his body when threatened. So it wasn't much of a surprise when nightmares were the first thing returned to him; however instead of being filled with Yami's menacing red eyes and his blood stained hands, he was staring at himself. Terrible power and white sightless eyes. The dangerous glow and wicked dark of the tattoo's marring him. He trembled, and shook before himself, watching in horror as the other Yuugi attacked him, screaming in blind fury and pain.

It was scary. _He_ was scary.

It was only a slight surprise that he didn't dream of Yami as the murderer, but of himself, when he'd lost control. The fear was almost all consuming and the dream impossible to escape, so it was much to his relief when after one terrible attack he woke, jerking up into a seated position, heart thudding, and sweat seeping into the sheets of the hospital bed. His body shook and his muscles gave way, utterly weak he started to fall back.

"Yuugi!" His arms were suddenly full of a soft and familiar body.

"A-Anzu?" He stuttered surprised, had he actually truly woken up this time?

"We thought you were never going to wake up! Grandpa called us when you started moving and we've been here ever since." She explained, eyes tearing as she shook with relief.

"What's going on?" He croaked before suddenly something collided into his side and Jounouchi's familiar bone crushing grip engulfed him.

"Yuug'! You had us worried there for a little while." He said, voice strained with held back tears.

By this point Yuugi was thoroughly confused. Wait a minute, this wasn't his room.

"Uh, guys?" He said.

Jounouchi seemed to come back to himself and coughed lightly moving back to give Yuugi some room Anzu following suit though she remained perched on the edge of the bed. Without them holding him upright Yuugi was forced back in to lying down, he didn't have the muscles strength to keep himself in that position.

"Your Grandpa and Honda just went to grab some grub, should be back soon. Man, they're gonna be sore they missed you waking up!" Jounouchi declared jovially.

"What's going on?" Yuugi asked again weakly.

"You're in Domino Hospital Yuugi'!" Jounouchi cried, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world, though given that Domino only had one hospital and the terrible scent of antiseptic that was creeping into this nose, he supposed it should be obvious. Though why he was there, was another matter. "You just passed out on the floor, and it took like hours before 'dose tattoo's of your's faded and your wings went away so we could take you to the hospital. Well that's what I heard anyway." He finished sheepishly. It was then Yuugi noted the bandages visible on Jounouchi's body. Of course! He'd been beaten by those Shadow Reapers!

"The ambulance got your grandpa and me from the game shop and hauled us into hospital." He continued to explain.

"Grandpa! Is he, is he okay?" Yuugi croaked out, throat clenching against an oncoming cough. He probably shouldn't have tried to be that loud after just waking up.

"He's fine. He's all recovered. But yeah, next mornin' Anzu found us an' told us about what happened, and that you were in the hospital too, doctors couldn't really tell what's wrong wit' ya, just that you had lots of muscles stress, exhaustion or summa' like that." Jounouchi explained. "Man I'm glad to see you awak little buddy, you've been sleepin' for ages!"

"Shut Up Blondie! I'm trying to rest!" Cried a voice from the next bed over. The room was dim but he could tell who it was.

"Bakura?"

"Hey Midget." The voice groaned. "Get them to shush, I'm trying to sleep."

Yuugi smiled. As charming as ever.

"_Yuugi!_"Honda's voice suddenly roared from where Yuugi assumed to be the door.

"Oh god." He heard Bakura mutter from over, the soft shift of blankets.

Suddenly he was being smothered by yet another bone crushing hug.

* * *

"So we're related?" Bakura said flatly, looking over to stare at his long time boyfriend.

"A long long time ago apparently." Ryou said carelessly.

"And that doesn't bother you?" He asked incredulously.

"A long _long_ time ago." Ryou emphasised.

Bakura continued to stare.

Yuugi smiled from his bed, craning his neck slightly to look at Bakura. "Well you know it's said that souls seek each other out you know." He added to the conversation. "All throughout time, souls that care about one another find ways to be together, lovers, brothers, father and son." He listed.

Bakura shuddered. "That makes it worse. You mean I could be sleeping with someone who was my son in a past life?"

Ryou frowned. "Hey, why am I the son?"

"Because I'm older, more mature, and I already take care of you."

Ryou sputtered in disbelief. "More _mature_?! Take care of _me_?!" His arms flailed wildly. "Who was the one who had to go collect you from gaol when you thought it might be fun to ride down a hill on a _wheelie bin_ into a crowd of _mourners_?!"

"Hey, be careful Ryou! The nurse's will come back of you keep that up." Yuugi warned.

"Oh, sorry Yuugi." Ryou apologised sheepishly, remembering that the nurses seemed to have formed a small fan group around Yuugi and were always looking for a reason to come back and fuss over him. Needless to say Bakura found it all very amusing and had no sympathy for 'the dwarf' but Ryou could sympathise, after all they would flock around him whenever Yuugi wasn't there.

"It's okay." He replied with an easy smile, and the room settled back into quite. A quiet that was harshly broken when Yuugi's rambunctious blond friend flung the door open loudly to announce his presence.

"You excited yet Yuug'? Ya get to go home in three days!" Jounouchi exclaimed as he walked casually into the room.

Yuugi sighed "I'd rather be Bakura and Ryou." He murmured. Not that the staff weren't nice to him or anything, but he hated being in hospital, and he hated being confined to a bed just as much. He'd much rather be going home tomorrow like they were.

Jounouchi chuckled. "I wouldn't. I've seen their house since _you_ were there." He declared before he turned grinned towards Bakura who glared at him fiercely in return.

"I've been trying not to think about it." Ryou groaned, shifting in his bed uncomfortably.

Jounouchi just continued to laugh to himself about the state of the Bakura Household. From what Yuugi could recall, the house had been in fairly poor shape when _he'd_ been in control, let alone afterwards when Yami had been in control.

Ryou could vaguely remember what kind of state his house had been in, and could vaguely recall what had happened on what they had dramatically dubbed 'That Fateful Night'. Bakura remembered even less. He only had a vague memory of coming home after searching for Ryou and some hazy recollection of someone he thought he hated though he wasn't really sure, and he thinks that that person's name could've been Mars, but didn't know who Mars was, or rather, is. He only remembered waking up in hospital feeling like someone had torn up the inside of his body with sharpened pieces of lead.

He'd heard about what had gone on from Yuugi's little cronies though, and then forced Ryou into telling him what happened in those hours that he couldn't' account for. He still felt guilty about it, and Yuugi could tell by the one or two hesitant glances that Ryou threw Bakura that the trust between them was slightly frayed by the spout of kidnapping and abuse. It was hard to get that trust back, even if wasn't Bakura's fault at all. Worse was that Bakura knew it, but it'd heal over in time.

The house on the other hand...

Yami's mind pressed gently against him in enquiry for the sudden activity and the slight tint of guilt colouring the interior of his container. Yuugi quickly brushed it off with small wave of reassurance. Yami accepted his reassurance and settled back, trusting that if his host needed help he would request it, especially since having experienced recently the effects of holding his emotions in.

Yuugi sighed, the coarse hospital blankets shifting slightly with the large inhale exhale. The air hadn't changed its scent, always the same antiseptic smell. His back itched slightly, his body had the slight dull feeling of weight and ache, the kind that came from having been lying for too long. Once he was free from hospitals and his grandfathers worry (or at least enough of the worry) the first thing he'd do would be a walk in the park. Maybe even a run. Sprint across the oval at its centre. Dodging Frisbees instead of fists, running in fun and not fear, pretending that at any given second wings would burst from his back and he'd take off into the sky. The fact that he now could wouldn't dawn on him until after he sat panting and sweating against the trunk of some old tree, Yami's voice tickling the back of his mind with humour and wonderment at his bearer's antics.

It would be great.

The smell of dirt and trees and whatever food stand was closest, and the ever present stench of car fumes, wood fires, cigarettes and other city pollution not as potent at the centre of the park, or at least strong enough to bother him as he nestled down at the base of a tree watching some kids running around. Maybe Jounouchi would run by with some coffee, and they'd sit and talk and joke, and laugh about how that one kid was running just like Honda used to whenever Anzu got 'that look' in her eye. Tilt their heads in pity as some excited little girl steps on the hem of her pant legs and trips over, scraping hands and knees, crying one second but fine the next as one kid initiates a game of tag.

It'd be great once he was out of hospital. As was, he was still stuck, partially sitting partially lying, Anzu and Grandfather both fussing, Yami laughing at his plight and his two roommates leaving tomorrow. Until he got out the park was a dream.

"Orright Yuug', so yer not gonna beat me this time!" Jounouchi declared loudly, shuffling his deck and settling at the end of Yuugi's bed.

He smiled. "Right Jounouchi."

* * *

"Holy Shit! What the fuck happened to my house?!"

His heart had stopped in his chest. There were scorch marks and furniture with chunks missing from their sides. The innards of a pillow were sprawled across the living room floor. The walls were a Picasso of black marks and holes. His carpet looked melted in the middle. The furniture, as torn as it was, had been righted again and was now patiently awaiting someone to sit on it, which would undoubtedly be the final straw for it. As some sort of bleak revenge to the endless years of mistreatment, the furniture seemed on the verge of toppling but not quite. As Bakura went to rest his weight down in shock, the chair collapsed in a frenzy of splintering wood and the victorious sigh of defeat as it finally gave in.

Although all this may be far too complex for a chair comprised of some timber, fabric and padding. Bakura was sure that the house now hated him to its bricked heart, and its contents hated him too.

As he'd first walked in the door, Ryou had all but fainted as his mind instantly kicked into high gear and began listing damage and repair. This was too much for a newly recovered hospital patient and Bakura had ordered him to lie down, in the mean time he'd taken it upon himself to look around the house and check the full extent of the damages. He also noted that some items of the house had vanished entirely and there was some graffiti in his laundry. Damn hooligans breaking into his home.

He'd never been an optimist, and if he had to hazard a guess he'd say that he was never going to _be_ an optimist, but he did realise that bitching about the state of his home to the crumbled furniture wouldn't improve anything. So it was with a suppressed angry grunt that he fetched an roll of garbage bags from the kitchen drawer and began packing all the unsalvageable rubble into what would be their coffin. They'd have to get some new carpet, putty in some of the large holes and gouges in the walls and then repaint... the couch still looked serviceable enough. The television wasn't in great working order but he could probably temporarily get it working until he could filch one from work at a later date.

They had some money they'd been saving so they could go on holiday so that Bakura could "get away from those insane friends" who seemed to call by at all the wrong times, that could probably be tapped into helping recarpet and paint the place. The Mutou's had recently re-painted one of their rooms so probably had some left over paint they could steal if they were short on cash. They could write it off as creativity if they had each wall a different colour.

He sighed looking up at the stairs to where Ryou was sleeping. Thankfully it was only really the dining room and the lounge room which had sustained a terrifying amount of damage. It wasn't really that bad, upstairs was fairly untouched. He still couldn't believe that he'd done this much damage, though apparently a bit of it could be put on 'The Black Raven's' head as well.

Oh well.

Having finished collecting hobo firewood he decided to go and check on his Ryou, to see if he was still sleeping. He quietly made his way upstairs, opening the door a fraction and peering inside. Ryou was lying on his back staring at the ceiling. Seeing as his boyfriend was awake he opened the door fully and stepped inside. Ryou turned his head in reaction, watching him walk in and, spotting the slight crease of worry in Bakura's face, smiled lopsidedly.

"Hey."

"Hey." Bakura replied, sitting down beside Ryou who sat up to be closer to his height.

"Our lounge room is pretty trashed."

"Yeah."

The conversation was short and meaningless, but the subtext was fairly important. They were back in their bedroom, they were alone, and the trust hadn't had time to re-grow yet. They hadn't really talked about it or the ramifications of being back here, what it meant, and the memories it inspired. Ryou was slightly edgy, which made Bakura nervous which he hated which in turn made him uncomfortable, which he hated slightly less but still hated. The situation was entirely awkward as they sat in uncomfortable silence, neither of them quite knowing what to say as the unspoken words filled a gap between them.

"So..."

"So..." Ryou echoed. He turned his head to stare more directly at Bakura. He just wished the awkwardness was gone already and they were back to normal but it just wasn't happening!

"I'm sorry." Bakura said quietly, rather forcibly. "About what happened, Ryou."

"It wasn't you." Ryou was quick to reply.

"But you still haven't forgiven me."

"I..." He trailed away. "There's nothing to forgive." He replied, trying to be convincing but it was hard. He knew he shouldn't have anything against Bakura, but it was _hard_ when the person who'd tied you up was identical to the person coming close to you.

"You are... we're not _normal_. It's just, and I fuckin' can't remember _any_ of what happened but you're acting like a sheep Ryou, and you've probably got every damn right to be a sheep after what I heard I'd done, but I heard it and _shit_ Ryou." Bakura finally snapped out angrily.

Ryo almost cringed away, but he knew Bakura. Bakura wasn't made at him, he was more than likely just frustrated. Bakura was angry at himself and in turn everything around him. He reached out a hand, albeit a little hesitantly and put it on Bakura's shoulder, a gentle contact with no trace of guilt, forgiveness, anger, fear or anything else negative. Just a simple tender contact to reassure.

"I don't blame you Bakura."

"I'm supposed to protect you! Instead I fuckin' kidnap you, tie you up!" He growled, his hands clenching into fists. He hated feeling like this; he just wanted to wreck things but he'd done enough damage, he couldn't afford to break anything else in this house.

"It wasn't _you_. How could you protect me from being possessed?" Ryou wasn't sure when he'd stopped trying to convince himself and was now set entirely on forcing Bakura to realise that he wasn't the problem, wasn't the one to do it and Ryou would forgive him, and, and... "I'm sorry."

"Why are you sorry?" Bakura snapped, head swiftly turning to look at his boyfriend, the anger in his eyes not meant for him but still intimidating Ryou into shedding away from him slightly.

"I'm sorry that I still seem afraid of you, I can't help it that I'm a little nervous, but its not you I'm nervous about, and Dallin... he was a lot like you. He didn't hurt me or anything, and he was only trying to defend someone from a long time ago. If it had been me, what would you have done in Dallin's situation?" Ryou said softly, not quite up to looking at his lover.

"I..." Bakura grunted, gritting his teeth. Ryou had a point. If Ryou had been the one sacrificed all those years ago, he would have done _anything_ and hurt _anyone_ to seek revenge on the one to take him away.

Ryou wrapped hesitant arms around him. "I still love you."

Bakura took a deep breath, releasing it slowly feeling some of the tension leave his muscles and his anger fade. He still wanted to be angry, but he was less so now.

"You're an idiot." Bakura said somewhat quietly and Ryou could only grin.

"I know."

* * *

He was reclined on his floor contemplating with a somewhat dark look on his face. The first attack since Yuugi's release from the hospital has occurred and the moment was awkward. Yuugi had control of the shadows (well good enough control) and was capable of managing the tattoo, the transformation, and the shadows all on his own. As a result Yami wasn't entirely sure what his role was now. There was a moment where he hesitated. Did he take control? Did he even have the right to? His excuse of Yuugi not having the required knowledge had passed, what reason was there now?

As it was the situation had pushed them past the awkwardness of the moment and straight into action. Yuugi had panicked and shifted back, Yami had taken control and mercifully disarmed their would-be attacker. But the problem went pass that moment.

The tattoo's faded, he returned back to his container and everything came under question. Should he protect Yuugi now? What was happening between them now? The dynamic had changed from innocent host with no shadow knowledge to a still innocent host with a crude but working knowledge of shadows.

The thoughts were plaguing him like some dangerous infliction to his mind. Although, one thought remained utterly pristine within his mind, that first thought – he wanted Yuugi. Later he'd came to accept that he needed Yuugi as well but first it was want, pure and unhindered want. He believed to his core that Yuugi was his and no one could ever lay claim to him, that Yuugi was destined to be his, just as destiny had always intend him to belong to Yuugi. That was just the way things were. No matter the circumstance, that's how things were meant to be, no one else could appreciate Yuugi as much as he did.

He sighed. "Thou dost have me Yuugi, but do I have thee?"

There was a soft shift, his mind was nudged gently as Yuugi seemed to be attempting to hand control over to Yami without the tattoo. He hadn't really noticed it earlier but the shadows were gently active as Yuugi shifted away from control, in turn forcing Yami to assume temporary ownership of the body.

'_Yuugi?'_ He questioned. He received only the feeling of a smile in return, the twinkle of shy mischievousness gleaning dully.

The first thing he noticed was that his wings were out, and the second was the reason why. He was atop the highest point in Domino. The city was sprawled beneath him in a display of a million glowing lights, the moon was large and full like a saucer of cream, hanging above the city and looking down on it from its place in the heavens.

The view was spectacular.

He breathed in sharply, eyes turning skyward as a rush of cool wind glided along his skin, rustling his clothing and hair. It was so sweet and held the chill of the night, a million different scents riding on its back like a gaggle of excited passengers. He couldn't even describe the swell in his chest as he gazed at the sky and the city from his fantastic vantage point.

"Yuugi." He breathed.

A somewhat timid and yet determined voice ran through his mind. "_I just wanted to, to thank you. For everything Yami. I always used to see you staring out the window from the end of my bed, so I thought..."_ He trailed off into the impression of a smile.

Yami briefly forgot exactly how to form words and sound. Yuugi was thanking him? It must've taken him forever to get out this way, and then to _fly_ up here. Yuugi had never even really flown at all and he would've had to fly pretty vertical.

Yuugi smiled feeling waves of gratitude slipping along his senses as Yami took in the view. He deserved it. Yami had remained a captive under Heba's(Yuugi's)request, it was only fitting that he was allowed to experience the freedom of wings and wind and a conquerors view of the city.

"Yuugi, thou needn't thank me. The pleasure is mine, thou did not need to do this for me, nor thank me at all." Yami replied still savouring the chill of the wind.

"_Yes I do Yami. I mistrusted you without any real reason, and all you've ever done is defend me, and you've suffered and I'm s- I just wanted to thank you for all you've done for me you deserve it"_

Yami released a steadying breath and basked in moon and the graciousness of his bearer. He remained in the position for at least an hour before shifting, thanking Yuugi once more and returning control to him, instead opting to be a solid spiritual form beside him. It didn't quite feel the same without the wind ruffling his wings, but it was spectacular nonetheless.

He gently took up Yuugi's hand, seizing the opportunity to voice the thoughts that plagued him. "Yuugi... I know what thou hast said... Yuugi, dost thou still have need of me? Thou can summon and control shadow, so now I no longer know what purpose I may serve thee. "

"You don't serve me Yami." Yuugi replied impulsively.

Yami chuckled slightly. "That doesn't answer my question, Yuugi."

"I can't fight. I don't _like_ to fight at all, and the shadows..." Yuugi made a dismissive motion and shook his head. "I'll never be the Black Raven Yami, that will always be you."

Problem 1 solved.

"And what am I to thee? Thou implored me to stay when we were at the crossroads, as one lover does implore it's other. I am thine, Yuugi. I want, no I _need _to know, art thou mine?"

Yami's red, soul searing eyes bore into him and Yuugi shifted uncomfortable under that stripping stare. It was a fairly loaded question, and the possessive streak that coloured Yami's tone sent a shiver down his spine that was nothing to do with the wind and its creeping hands. He licked his dry lips and let his eyes wander to the hand gripping his.

Yami was dead, but here he was solid and warm, breathing before him. There was no way if he saw him in the street that he'd know that this man's body had stopped existing hundreds of years ago. His eyes lingered on the slowly fading burn scars visible on Yami bare skin, his chest clenched with guilt.

"I also mean this as an apology of sort, about the burns." He said softly. Yami's hand tightened around his in acceptance.

"It wasn't thy fault Yuugi." He opened his mouth to protest but Yami stopped him and continued. "But I accept the apology anyway."

Yuugi smiled.

"And thou art avoiding my question."

Yuugi's smile faded to thoughtful frown. He hadn't really wanted to think about it. To define an answer. To lie beside Yami, clasp his hand was another thing entirely to agreeing that he _was_ Yami's. "I..." His voice trailed off into uncertainty.

What was he really trying to say? What was the truth? He had faith in Yami, trust, belief, and he didn't want to be parted from him. He knew that. He knew that in the illusion that the drive to keep Atemu wasn't Heba's alone. He kept Yami from the Dark, he kept him from rest, he'd kept him, wasn't it only right that it work in reverse?

Wasn't it only right that if Yuugi was to lay claim to the soul of Mars, to want him to stay, to keep him, that Yami could in turn keep him? Would it really be that bad? He wouldn't lie about the attraction, wouldn't lie about the flush that burnt his skin when he recalled that heated scene once his identity as the Black Raven had been exposed. Yami's hands on his skin, lips on his embracing hotly, sweetly, wetly and so very _nicely_. The soft touch of their minds. Ripples of consciousness and the gentle thoughts and assurances that had come from Yami during times of stress in rehabilitation.

He owed it to Yami. That shouldn't be the reason though. That _couldn't_ be the reason because that wasn't the _right_ reason for any choice of this capacity. No. He owed it to Yami to be honest with himself and give an honest answer. Which made it harder but... He looked at Yami, waiting patiently, watching him with his intensely coloured eyes. his eyebrows a set of fine lines, face impassive, hair was soft and tugged gently by the wind. His skin glowed in the moonlight with the softness and temptation of white satin.

Yami was gorgeous, honest, wanting and... to be honest...he wanted Yami in return. And if he wanted Yami and Yami wanted him, and they were bound together through the tattoo, and his newly found trust in the dark spirit was pulsing strong between them, they had more than what he'd ever had with Anzu. Yami knew him, everything about him, and still wanted him.

He looked at their hands, and made up his mind. Without much hesitance he grabbed Yami around his neck and tugged him into a hard kiss. At first Yami didn't respond but soon was kissing back enthusiastically his arms moving to cradle Yuugi flush against him – well as flush as possible with their current position and altitude.

Yuugi felt his cheeks grow slightly warm and as he parted from Yami he was pleased to note the same tint of pink on Yami's cheeks.

"Does this mean?" Yami asked breathlessly, fighting temptation to end all conversation right then and there.

"It does." He replied, kissing Yami chastely. "Though I'm not exactly sure that you can date someone who exists inside you, because technically we aren't ever apart so it's not exactly 'seeing' someone is it? I'm not really sure how I'm going to explain it to Grandpa, Jounouchi, Anzu and Honda... maybe not Honda until after I tell Jounouchi and he tells me that I'm insane and that I shouldn't tell Anzu in case she attacks me with a pitchfork, and I'm not sure how it'd work really but I think that... that I... that we... and besides, it just feels right doesn't it?"

Yami felt the corners of his lips tug into a smile as Yuugi ranted, resting his forehead against his counterpart. "Yes, it does." He replied calmly, kissing Yuugi soundly to forestall any continuing nervous ramble. Yuugi mumbled something into the kiss which if anything only made Yami happier.

Problem 2 solved.

"Now we just have to teach you to speak properly and everything's perfect." He joked.

Yami laughed, holding Yuugi tight against him. He'd look forward to learning.


End file.
